Escape
by Raiker
Summary: How would Harry's life change if he knew of Dumbledore's manipulations, and met up with another who wanted to escape being used by those in control?
1. The Meeting on the Tower

The raven-haired vixen, Daphne Greengrass, stalked up the stairs towards the astronomy tower. Just a few nights ago, at the final task of the tri-wizard tournament, Harry Potter appeared with a dead body in his hands and a rumor on his lips. What Daphne needed to do was escape the castle. Her parents were definitely Death Eaters, not high enough in the ranks to matter, but they'd certainly want to use their daughters to try to gain favor with the Dark Lord or his inner circle if the opportunity presented itself. Daphne wasn't about to let that happen, she packed her essentials: runic tomes, a few clothes, some makeup, shoes, and of course her broom. With everything important to her she'd try to escape and be far enough away that her parents couldn't call her back.

She barged up through the trapdoor into the cool, crisp late-night air. What met her at the top of tower was probably the last thing she would have expected. Harry Potter was camped at the edge of the tower sitting in the fetal position, a death grip on his hair, genuinely looking broken. When he snapped his head over to face her she also noticed his eyes, which were normally a brilliant emerald green, were red, with jagged bolts, not only cutting through the whites of his eyes, but across his irises. The effect had a profound, slightly disturbing impact and made her freeze in her tracks.

She saw him hastily try to cover up his crying. "Go away, the last thing I need is someone else to attempt to ruin my life," he hastily snapped at her, though it didn't stop his voice from cracking.

There was nothing else she'd love to do, but after spending four years watching Potter's pets strut along with him trying to hide, this display was slightly out of character. She'd expect Granger to have a breakdown. Potter on the other hand, he always seemed to be made of a tougher substance then the rest of her classmates. Quickly glancing at the broom in her hand, she sighed. Laying the broom and her pack down on the ground she scooted over near Potter and slid down the parapet. "I was planning to leave Potter, but you being here looking like someone shot your puppy leaves me in a quandary." She looked around, but he brought nothing, and further examining of him showed him only wearing a pair of pyjamas from the hospital wing. He was lucky that it was the beginning of summer, so it was a rather warm night for Scotland. "So, I'm feeling nice tonight, hopefully the karma helps me in some way, care to explain what has you so flustered?"

He looked at her like she was insane, "Why should I tell you anything? The last thing I need is someone else to spy on me." This got Daphne to raise a delicate eyebrow. "Besides," Harry finally decided to look at her and growled, "what possible reason could you have to run away." He jerked his head at her broom and pack.

She looked at him, "Potter, I don't want to stay with my family to become a tool. I've heard your rumor and since the ministry is trying to cover it up, there is some form of truth in it. I do not agree with my parent's ideals, nor do I want to meet their lord." She sighed, "My leaving was always planned, but I was hoping to be able to claim my inheritance. Now it's going to take all my resources and a ton of luck to not be caught by the Dark Lord's followers or the ministry while trying to hide this summer. Next year after the O. I can get emancipated and be free of them. I just wish I didn't have to hide during the summer and could claim my inheritance." She turned her gaze towards the stars, and sighed again.

Harry had turned to her when she mentioned getting emancipated, "You mean we can be free from controlling adults before we graduate?" He was practically glowing with excitement, his eyes wide and hopeful, brilliantly shining in the dark, mostly back to their emerald-green quality, though his sclera still had a pink hue from his earlier crying.

Daphne was startled at his exuberance, "Of course, having a mastery in a subject and passing the O.W.L.s for that subject can easily grant you entrance into a guild. Join the guild, even if you don't plan to do anything with the guild and you're registered as a guild member, and guild members are considered adults, as long as they are full members. An O.W.L. could get you into a guild, but having a mastery and a strong O.W.L. score guarantees it, and also lets you skip being a trainee, or pre-guild member. Didn't anyone teach you about wizarding society, or the alternatives to Hogwarts?" When he shook his head and continued staring at her she was shocked, "Potter, Hogwarts isn't the only option, you could've been emancipated at thirteen, what else do you not know?"

"I haven't been taught anything about wizarding culture, or any alternatives to Hogwarts." Daphne's eyes grew wide and she proceeded to explain the aspects of wizarding culture to him.

**Another story idea I had. Rather then a manipulative Harry, I wanted a typical manipulative Dumbledore, but with a slight twist. **

**I do plan to update this story, I have most of the first half of fifth year, and a vague idea how I'd like to end the year, not sure if I'll just do a one year story, or if it'll continue past year 5.**


	2. Creating a Home

Daphne and Winky appeared in a run-down, beat up little shack. The cool ocean breeze swept her hair into her face, tousling it and getting it into her mouth.

"Well he did say it was terrible didn't he Winky?" Daphne decided to question the elf. At Winky's nod she continued, "Don't start fixing this place up until I tell you, we don't want the ministry to think anyone is here." Another nod from the obsessive elf and Daphne set to work. She could live in this hovel if it was cleaned up, but as it was now she would go crazy. Daphne didn't consider herself to be a snob, as a pureblood she was happy with less, while most wanted more and more, but this little rinky-dink, broken cottage needed to be fixed, or someone, most likely Potter, would face her wrath.

Daphne carefully pulled a warding lectern out of her trunk. She had spent the last week of school carefully crafting this lectern, along with the runic wards accompanying it, so that she could at least get up the basic wards to hide herself and Potter. He wasn't very trusting learning that to tie himself to the lectern, and therefore every ward it centered, he needed to donate blood, but eventually both of them managed to find a place to meet so he could enter through her wards.

Although the lectern didn't need to be centered on the island, Daphne wanted four layers of wards to go into protecting them, and the best location considering her ward plan would be inside the house. The first layer of wards would just contain wards to keep others from finding them, and finding the island: anti apparition, anti portkey, anti elf magic (any elf tied to them gained immunity from the wards, just like Potter and herself), anti owl, anti tracking, an unnoticeable ward to hide the island, and her favorite, a breaker ward; any foreign magic to the caster would immediately be broken upon entering the wards, so tracking charms would be nullified. The second layer would be just inside the first layer and have defensive wards added to it, along with every ward from the first layer, for added protection. The point of stacking the similar wards on other layers was more added insurance in case someone noticed another layer and broke it, hopefully breaking the first layer, no one would look for a second with similar wards. The third layer would be around the yard of the house and she had planned would contain magical nullifying charms, so that breaking the wards would be harder, and so that Potter and herself could defend themselves easier, this was included with stronger versions of the wards in the second layer, and the first layer's wards as well, while at that point they were probably found out, hopefully anyone trying to breach the island would think there was no house and it was just a warded island. The fourth layer of wards would contain the strongest wards Daphne knew: repelling wards, nullification wards, concealment wards, defensive wards, blocking wards, breaking wards, unnoticeable wards, everything. The fourth ward layer would be around their house, and if they started falling she would also have a transport ward set up, this would break through any anti apparition or portkey wards so that both her and Potter could escape whoever was trying to capture them without delay. Sadly she had to leave the receiver rune in her dormitory at school, she'd ask Winky to pick it up if they lasted the week it would take for them to get out of England so she could place it somewhere better, and further, away from those trying to locate them.

The two of them decided a week was the best time to try to get off the island. Since Potter missing would probably set alarms off for everyone after the train set off, their best hope that a search for him would start would only happen if everyone who noticed didn't think to use an owl to alert the headmaster. The expected worst case scenario, only forty-five minutes until he was hunted, average would be about ninety minutes, and best case would be ten hours, when the train made it into King's Cross Station and everyone found out Potter was pulling a runner. Her family would find out then regardless, her sister wouldn't check on her during the train ride, and Tracy probably expected her to disappear if she could. By the end of the day the two of them expected Dumbledore and whoever he could get, the Dark Lord and his minions, and the Ministry would be looking for them. Potter's problem would be leaving Gringotts without anyone finding him. Only the best luck would mean no one would be searching for him by the time he would be finished, and it was critical to their plans on getting out of Britain to use the elves, so if anyone noticed him using Dobby for transport the ministry would tighten up security so elves wouldn't be free to leave. Only because most wizards considered elves beneath them could elves come and go out of the country without anyone noticing, if he was caught they'd be trapped here as a best case scenario. Because the two of them wanted a place to return without worry, the wards had to be set up before they left, and Potter had business at Gringotts that he insisted needed to be done before he could even think about leaving. Since they had work to get done before they could leave Britain, the search for both of them would start before they could actually leave. All magical travel outside of the country would be traced, and aurors would be stationed at key travel points in the muggle world, especially since Harry Potter was known to have grown up there. Their hope was after about a week they could send one of the elves to France and back, hopefully nothing would arise and they could make their escape.

As she finished unpacking she came across a case, these were her pride and joy, four runes, never before used in warding. She came across the idea last year, and had been working on small scale tests this year; the accumulations of these tests would hopefully result in her earning masteries in runes and warding. While she hadn't submitted the theory and proof of this particular rune had on warding, her tests and formulas on the theory of how wards were manipulated would be enough to grant her the masteries. Sadly, because she needed to lay low submitting her theory would only cause the both of them trouble if the people they were hiding from understood what they could do. The runes she had dubbed 'ghost' runes, and would be used to strengthen her wards tenfold. The theory behind them came from a discussion she had overheard between some professors about a charm called the Fiddlesticks Charm, or something like that, after looking for the charm and eventually finding it she loathed it. The charm itself was weak, the effect was to protect a specific location from everyone, but the issue with the charm was it wouldn't last forever, most of the time it didn't even last long. The charm's lifespan was dependent on the caster and the 'secret keeper' the stronger the two are, the longer it would last. Regardless, the average wizard could probably only make one last for a few months, above average maybe a year. Then the charm collapsed and it would have to be recast, and because of the final condition of the charm it couldn't be used as a runic ward, only a warding charm. The secret keeper had to be a living sentient being, and the innate magic within them sustained the charm after the casting. They were the only one able to give out the secret. If they willed it, only they could use the protected location, even if the caster was inside the location at the time of casting. Because of this the charm needed to be a spell, and if something were to happen to the secret keeper after they gave out the secret it could pass to anyone who knew it. The final major issue with the charm was the secret keeper could not reside in the location being kept secret, what a useless waste! The secret keeper could visit, but if they remained too long the charm would fall, and the location would be known again. While if the keeper died some of the multiple keepers could reside in the location without it falling quickly, it was still a race against time at that point. The only good thing about the charm was what it represented in warding. Her ghost rune was a rough parody of a secret keeper, it had to reside outside of the wards it was connected to, but in return it fed off ambient magic in its location and could further increase the power of her wards. The downside is if someone discovered her ghost rune and broke it her wards would be weaker then normal, a small price to pay in return for its benefits. She also learned that the greater the distance the less power the rune seemed to give off, so ideally the rune had to be near the ward, but outside of its protection. Potter's choice of location saved her in this regard too, and island off of England. The magic in her rune wouldn't let it erode until well past her death, probably several generations after her death at the earliest, and with careful placement she could ensure that currents didn't move it, all she needed was Winky to find a place after she set up the ward, and then the rune would be perfect. The other three layers would all be placed somewhere on the island one on the rocky coast, the other two hopefully nowhere near each other to not be found.

Thanks to her ghost runes, she was sure that the both of them would be safe, at least reasonably so. While her warding probably wasn't even average on the scale of someone who works with wards for a living, her being in school and all, she felt secure that her ghost runes would allow her wards to be strong enough to keep almost anyone at bay. Someone like the headmaster or the Dark Lord probably would still notice them, and probably easily decimate them, but she was hoping that neither of them would go out to actively search for the two of them, instead preferring to send out their pawns until the grunt work was out of the way.

Once Daphne was finished preparing her runes and the lectern, she set up the lectern and started to walk along the perimeter of the island, setting along her runic seals for the first layer of her wards. Ideally as she was doing this they would be tying themselves into her lectern, but the lectern would be giving off a magical signal the second she activated it, instead she had to place the runes, and then have Winky place the ghost rune before she activated her lectern. If she did it the other way around the ministry would register the magic from her lectern on their sensors. Once the missing person report for Potter and herself came in, it wouldn't be hard for them to find her interest in runes, and any ward expert would guess it had to do with a central runic ward scheme. If she set up her runes beforehand they would activate with the lectern, if any magic was detected it would be written off as natural magic, even after learning about the runaways, it would be so short that they wouldn't be able to place it as wards, though they would be watching closely for anything to symbolize wards from then on, at least until the heat died down.

Over the next hour and a half, both Daphne and Winky worked to engrave the rune stones into the rocks along the side of the island. On one coast, facing away from the mainland, they found a beach, and had to bring some larger rocks from the middle of the island over to engrave the stones, so that the tide wouldn't break her ward. Once all the runes were placed, and Winky had engraved Daphne's ghost rune to the bottom of a post on the dock, with the promise to fix the dock when the elves were able, Daphne went to the lectern and activated it. What happened shocked her, she felt the wards snap up, as the lectern glowed brighter then she expected, her wards weren't just stronger as she imagined, they were massive! It was impossible; could her theory have been incorrect? She thought that the ghost runes power was limited, but the only way she could imagine the wards gaining so much strength is if the ghost rune powered up the ward, without concern for size! In her small scale tests, the ghost rune could power up a ward on a classroom almost twenty times over magically, she estimated the entire islands wards would gain five or ten times the strength, but this was easily triple her expectations! As excited as Daphne was, she couldn't go examine how and why this phenomenon was happening, she needed to start setting the second layer of runes immediately. The first layer was only to obscure the island and those on it from the world, the second layer would be the first to actually prevent others from getting onto their island. Daphne believed in being prepared, and Potter admitted that he hated not being prepared himself, only circumstances in his life left him unprepared for everything. They both wanted the most protection they could get; assuming that the first set of wards would keep them safe just because it was meant to hide them could end up getting them caught. The second set of wards would stall anyone who could find them, with the added hope of keeping them concealed if whoever broke the first layer expected that to be the only set of wards. It was entirely possible for that scenario to work, most wizards only used one set of wards, and just added onto that set to further protect themselves.

Daphne sent Winky off to go fix up the house, since magic could be used freely now, while she spent the next two hours setting up the runes for the second layer of wards. Winky was happily busy fixing up the house for the two humans, and both elves, to reside in for at least the remainder of the week.

Just as Daphne finished the second layer of wards she heard the crack signaling an elf's appearance. Turning towards the house she saw both Potter and Dobby walking towards the little shack. Smiling Daphne went to fully activate the second layer of wards and find out how everything went with Potter.

Dobby brought Harry to the entrance of Gringotts before instantly vanishing again. Harry quickly hurried to the nearest available teller and waited to be acknowledged. At the goblin's glance and nod Harry stepped up to the counter. Something he had been told by Daphne about doing business at Gringotts was to quickly get into his business, goblins valued time and gold, if he wasn't dealing in gold he had to get to his business at their pace. _'Potter, the only reason the goblins will care about you is because of your account, if your not making a deposit or withdrawal, get to the point and be prepared with everything you need, if your not giving gold, your wasting time.'_

"I'd like to talk to someone about my account."

The goblin didn't even look up as it replied, "I'm here aren't I? Discuss your business or move on."

"I'd like to discuss a few things about my account that I wouldn't like others to overhear, including summer plans dealing with locking others out of it."

The goblin irately looked up at Harry, "What problem could you possibly have with your account that cannot be taken care of out here."

Harry sighed, "Someone was given the key to my trust account last year and I haven't recovered it, I need to discuss something private dealing with that account for summer plans, and I want to know if I have other accounts, calling it a trust account makes me think there is a main account connected to it, if so I'd like the status of that account for the last thirteen years."

Harry had to admit, goblinkind didn't seem to show any shock at these sorts of things, if anything the goblin got surlier before commanding, "Fine, follow me."

Following the goblin through some doors Harry was led through a labyrinth of hallways, through several more doors and even some rooms larger then the great hall at Hogwarts. He passed several goblins, all of whom looked at him strangely as he passed through mostly empty halls with no defining traits. Harry's guide padded through the stone and dirt floors quietly, but Harry's shoes seemed to echo creating a loud and grating sound. Thirty minutes of walking, and being lost, and Harry was led into a small room with two chairs and a rather large desk. The rest of the room was notably bare, and other then the desk, it had no resemblance to any other office he had ever been in. There were no images, no bookcases, not even a window, just stone walls, and the stone door that only stood out from the rest of the wall by its handle and seams. Even Professor McGonagall had a few things scattered around to dampen the sound and let students look at, this office though had nothing to show, the desk's items were neatly put away and out of his sight, the office clearly showed that business was to be done here, and anyone who came in was expected to finish their business promptly.

"The senior account manager shifts recently changed so currently we don't have one on duty. I will have to rouse the next manager to come here and deal with your accounts Mr. Potter. Only senior account managers and above will know about the status of any and all of your personal accounts. You are expected to wait until one comes in. Luckily, because this day is when students are _normally_ on the train back," here the goblin paused and looked pointedly at Harry, "there are never any appointments on this day. Be aware that future meetings about your accounts will need to be scheduled in advance." With that the goblin turned and left Harry alone in the office.

A little under an hour later and another goblin entered the office. Seemingly ignoring Harry, it went to the desk and pulled out some papers and folders. Once it had everything laid out, it addressed Harry, "Let us get right to business Mr. Potter. First," it snapped its finger and pointed at a doorway, which Harry would have sworn wasn't there before, with a miniature waterfall. "You must go through that door. That will remove any charms, compulsions, ingested potion and memory magic. We can not discuss any business until I am sure you are at least of sound mind."

Harry obliged and went through the doorway and returned to the room. To his delight the waterfall only looked like water, he didn't get soaked and need to be wet throughout the rest of the meeting. Once he returned to his seat the goblin dove right into business, "The first issue that I was made aware of Mr. Potter was your key is no longer in your possession, care to explain why? You should have been made aware when you received your key it is not meant to go out to anyone else."

Harry blinked, "I wasn't told anything when I received my key, but last year due to the Quidditch World Cup I gave my key to a friend's mother. Due to the incident after the game and the game itself I forgot to collect it before we set off for school the next day. Now I have summer plans I'm sure that she wouldn't approve of, and I doubt she'd give me my key if I asked. I believe that she'd insist that I remain in the muggle world, or stay with her if I were to see her in person. It's not that I don't trust her, but I want to completely lock down my trust vault since I don't plan to remain in the country this summer, I don't want anyone, for any reason, to access my account without my permission, and set up a plan so that you know if I want access, or if someone whom I trust is trying to take money."

The goblin folded its long fingers together and stared intently at Harry, "The account can not lock you out, as it was a trust vault set up for you to access. Since the key was entrusted to someone you no longer trust," the goblin stalled Harry from interrupting, "If you trusted her fully you wouldn't come here to lock the account, regardless of your wishes, the only way to prevent them from accessing the vault, is to close it, and because you are currently not emancipated, or of age, you can not close either of your vaults."

Harry sat back and thought about his options, according to the goblin he can't close his vaults, and he can't lock everyone out of them since the key was given to Mrs. Weasley in trust. Something Daphne had said about him trusting people too easily had drawn his danger sense. He felt that if he didn't deal with his accounts immediately something bad would happen to them. "What it sounds like is that my parents created a trust, and because of everything, I essentially gave the trust to Mrs. Weasley." At the goblin's nod he continued, "What if, because I own the trust, I gave control of my account to someone else? Then because she wasn't given the trust by the person in control of it, she couldn't access it, right? That would also solve my problem with not being able to lock the account, if I gave control away to someone who would put me in trust, then because I plan to leave England this summer the account would remain untouched!" Harry thought he had found a good way to solve all of his account problems at once.

The account manager on the other hand had noticed a flaw in Harry's plan, "Who would you give control to? You can give control to an account guardian, but this would be your magical guardian, and since you haven't brought this person, I'll make the assumption that you're concerned about trusting them as well."

Harry smiled at this, "That's the easy part; my magical guardian should be Sirius Black, but since he is a criminal, and no one has come to me explaining they are my guardian, and after this last year I was put into a tournament that was supposed to be for people of age, I have no clue who my magical guardian is, so as far as I know it's me. Would it be possible for me to give control of my accounts to a goblin? Currently I trust goblins to protect them, so I don't have an issue entrusting the accounts to you to do what is in my best interest with them until the end of summer."

The account manager looked at Harry interestedly, "Interesting, it is true that Mr. Black is your guardian, but he was never officially tried, and therefore his standing in Gringotts is fine. I do believe that coming here immediately was a good idea Mr. Potter, if you wish it we could draft up a contract for you to give control of your accounts to Gringotts for the summer, in which we will keep protecting the accounts and utilize them for the best interest of the account holder, you."

Harry was happy with the idea, and a little less then an hour later a contract was made and signed by Senior Account Manager Wraithorpe, Harry James Potter, and two other goblins acting as witnesses. The contract stipulated that until August the thirty-first the goblins would have singular trust of his account. Since the goblins couldn't formally own a wizarding vault, they had to make it so Harry specified that only goblins could access his vault, essentially locking himself out of his own vaults, for the rest of the summer. Since Harry had never been contacted by his magical guardian, both (it turned out Daphne was right, he had a family vault) of his vaults would get an inventory check, and his account would get a full audit. Anything missing, or any transaction that didn't have the account holders express signature or permission, would be considered theft, and an equal amount would be taken from the thief. The audit would date back from August first three years ago, all the way to November first the morning after his parents died. Harry would be putting his faith into the goblins to not only run the audit, but protect his account and his account's interests, for the service, the goblins could once again use his account for investment, with a partner share of the profits on investment. The goblins were happy with this setup since for a little under three months a lot of idle money in the bank would be used for investments, and they fully expected to make money. Harry was happy because he essentially blocked everyone from accessing his vaults, and because the payments would be written off into the profit of investment he was essentially getting free service while he left. Wraithorpe also left five hundred galleons in a separate personal vault that Harry could access, for emergencies while traveling this summer.

Once the contract and the copies were signed and secured, Wraithorpe addressed Harry, "Well Mr. Potter, I believe with this we have covered everything you asked for at the front counter, any other business with us today?"

"I guess we should setup a safety method in case I return to England earlier then expected, and need to do business here before then, right?" At the goblin's nod he continued, "How about if I ever need to come here before our appointment at the end of August I request a meeting with you by name, and I'll use your name as the requester too, its simple but I doubt anyone will know of you by name."

The goblin nodded, "Yes Mr. Potter most wizards tend to not to bother using our names, or remembering them, even if I'm not available, I'll make sure that if someone matching your description enters asking for me by name, and using my name to request a meeting, they will be shown the senior account manager that is active. You will of course be expected to go through the Thief's Downfall without complaint again Mr. Potter." With Harry's assent, the goblin again requested for any additional business.

"Two more things actually, one is a warning about Voldemort. I've been told not to try to preach to everyone about him, but I think it is a good idea to warn Gringotts about his return. Do with that information what you will, I believe he is back, I plan to prepare for when he tries to kill me, and you can believe me or choose not to. I won't argue for or against his return with the goblins anymore. I have warned the ministry, Dumbledore and now Gringotts, I don't think there are any more major parties to address with my warning. The last thing I wanted to talk about was how I leave, is it possible for me to have a private room to leave from? Our meeting has taken some time and I believe some people who may want to control where I go this summer will be out looking for me, first stop on their list would be here." Harry finished up his mini speech with a hopeful look at the goblin. If he couldn't use Dobby inside of Gringotts his only backup plan was to get caught and call Dobby after the Dursleys fell asleep.

The goblin looked at Harry, "I will ensure your warning is passed on, and Gringotts' will use that as your official position on the topic. It does not take a genius to see what the ministry has been attempting to do to Dumbledore and yourself, since you have given us authorization, we will handle your public image that the ministry is trying to take down. For your question, Gringotts could rent an unwarded office for you to use for an hour, otherwise you'll have to exit our bank like every other customer Mr. Potter."

"Would you be willing to remove the gold from my vault? Otherwise I'll have to leave through the normal exit."

"Of course Mr. Potter, one of my associates will lead you to your office if that concludes your business with us. I shall see you in a few months with a full audit, and a full account summary." Wraithorpe, started filing papers and waved Harry in the direction of the door.

Once out the door he ran into another goblin, and was led through more corridors and hallways until he was pushed into another office, "One unwarded office, you may do what you want in here, if you are still here at the end of your hour it will cost you twenty-five more galleons to extend it another hour, or you will be forced to leave, good day."

"How that goblin knew I asked for an office without any outward appearance of being called is something I don't think I'll ever learn," Harry said while shaking his head. "Dobby!" when the elf appeared Harry smiled, "Let's go home now." With that, the two disappeared.

A week later both Harry and Daphne were finishing up preparations to leave. Over the past week with Harry's help Daphne had completed the four runic wards. They had finally decided where to place the three ghost runes for the last three wards. Although the runes were unheard of in the name of warding, they didn't want to give away their existence. Hopefully with their hiding spots no one would ever think to look for a rune stone outside of the ward, and anyone who does wouldn't ever locate them. The second layer's ghost rune went on a different post on the same dock as the first layer's ghost rune. The hope was that if one was found the person destroying them wouldn't look in the same spot for a second stone. The third and fourth layer's ghost runes went into a small cave on the island. The four of them searched the cave and found it amazingly empty. Shortly after they decided that it would be the perfect place to hide the final two ghost runes, hopefully in the dim light it would be harder to see the inscriptions in the stone walls.

After securing the wards, both Harry and Daphne had originally planned to help the elves fix up the house and the island around the house, but both were shot down before they could even lift a finger in aid of the elves. When the elves found out that their masters were trying to help with housework they ended up throwing a fit and both Harry and Daphne had to calm them down and assure them that they weren't going to be replaced for not working hard enough.

Since the elves made it clear early on the house was their domain, Harry and Daphne spent all their time studying and getting to know each other. Neither shared anything intimate, but by the end of the week they had progressed in their relationship to friends, not just co-conspirators.

Daphne once again looked through their belongings and groaned, "Potter why is everything you own old and ragged?" This was not the first time she had complained about his wardrobe, but with any luck it would be her last. "Second stop Potter, right after we get different wands, you and I are going shopping, we are going to buy you new clothes, and we are going to buy me new clothes, no excuses."

One major point that Daphne insisted upon was getting a new pair of wands. Only aurors or criminals generally carried more then one wand. Since, as children, they'd only be checked for one wand at any given point, having a second wand to protect themselves with, while keeping the wand everyone would check clean, meant they could do more to protect themselves without getting into trouble. Also, a woman after his father's heart apparently, Daphne pointed out they could "play" with Malfoy without getting caught, as long as they handed their original wand over to whichever teacher called them out.

Dobby had already tested out whether they could escape or not, so currently they were just waiting on him finding them a wandmaker so they could each purchase a new wand. What better time to get a pair of wands, then when they would be sneaking into another country.

"I understand the wands Daphne, but do we really need to get new clothes?" At her glare Harry flinched, "Daphne, really?"

"Yes Harry, clothes. I will not be seen with someone who looks like he deserves to be thrown in a dumpster. All we need to do is get a few new clothes for you, and some for me. Be a good boy and I'll model a few new outfits for you. How you look has an effect on how you feel. One thousand galleons are more then enough for us to survive a few months. A bit of shopping shouldn't even make a dent." Daphne really did want to get Harry to at least look better, the past week she enjoyed Harry's company. With a few touch ups he could easily become someone desirable. He was already proving to be worth her time, she just had to iron out a few of his more problematic issues.

She noticed whenever the conversation led to their lives before Hogwarts Harry would be vague or steer the conversation to a different topic. Since Harry effectively was avoiding his friends to not go back to his muggle relatives, Daphne figured that she'd have to find out exactly what happened to Harry over his years there. If Harry was abused then she'd have to get revenge for him, he would probably never think of getting even with someone who had hurt him. Luckily Daphne didn't mind coming up with a few plots here and there. They were friends, and Daphne didn't have many friends, so she'd protect the few she had, in her own way.

Another of Harry's problems that Daphne didn't really like, was his aversion to studying. Although she had already gotten to work correcting his study habits, when he wasn't with Weasley he was perfectly willing to learn. Maybe it was because of his new attitude, but he was willing to put in the effort to his studies ever since they had finished setting up the wards. He really seemed taken with runes and kept stealing Daphne's books on the subject. This would be refreshing if Daphne didn't want to read those same books, but all it was doing was pushing her patience to her limit. Perhaps they'd go buy some runic tomes while they were shopping. At least it was a subject they could talk about during the trip, if all else goes wrong.

The last thing she needed to work out was his need to save people. Although heroism was a nice trait, it was also the main reason that he rushed into things without thinking so often. If she could make him stop and think things through before acting, she could put up with him trying to save people who probably didn't need to be saved. Or deserve to be saved by him, she certainly didn't think some people would deserve him coming to their rescue, but knowing him he'd still at least try.

"Daphne?" She snapped her attention back to Harry, he had a worried look on his face and was holding a hand out to her. A quick check around showed Dobby had returned and was eagerly waiting to take them away to start their vacation.

"Sorry Harry, just thinking about a few things, nothing you need to worry about." She took his hand and smiled. "Dobby lets start our vacation now." Harry smiled too and with a crack Dobby whisked them away for their journey.

**So, this was my second chapter, a bit more into the story mostly setting up a "home base". I really wondered why I have never found anyone use the island Vernon ran to as a location for Harry to hide on with stories like this. None of the Dursleys would remember where it was (I remember a lot of "throwing them off the trail" going on) and Hagrid probably wouldn't remember the island, he was more interested in talking to Harry.**

**This was the initial first chapter of the story, what spawned this idea, I added the introduction afterwards because I felt like some form of backstory would be needed, like why are they together and where did the meet.**

**First to answer the three big topics brought up in reviews (Thank You all so much, I'm surprised there is interest): 1) Story/Chapter Length: The first chapter was really short, I'm sorry, it was just an introduction to the story, I really like teasers to start a story, the rest of the chapters should be longer, although there is a problem with this I'll address in a bit. 2) Harry's lack of Knowledge: I don't like how some other stories have arguments about Harry's lack of knowledge, unless its some misunderstanding when they meet that gets corrected. In this story Daphne knows Harry doesn't know much, and she plans to teach him aspects that he should know and she feels are important. I don't plan to have her be a walking encyclopedia, remember she is running from that type of life too, but she will teach him a few things to help with next school year. ;) 3) What did she teach him: This was in the first review, so I felt like I should bring it up, almost everything she'll teach him will end up brought up by the 6****th**** or 7****th**** chapter, as mentioned, she's not going to make him a walking aristocratic encyclopedia, just teach him a few things he can get away with, and a few things to help him get out of Dumbledore's reach. **

**To try and stop a question about this, Daphne's helping Harry because he can free her, and Harry helps Daphne, because she can free him. Daphne has the skills (Warding) to hide the two of them, and Harry has the money and location (along with elves) so they can't be found. If not for Harry, Daphne would get hungry and need magic, if not for Daphne, Harry would be found by the Order/Ministry/Death Eaters within hours of going missing, even if he hid in the muggle world. As of this chapter, there is no ulterior motive, though you can guess (by my tags) that there'll be a new reason sooner rather then later.**

**Finally I'd like to just make a point that I write really, really slowly. I originally planned to do one chapter a month, if I could make that, but I'd feel really bad if I left that short intro as the entire story until June, so I'll post this one. If I ever miss an update I'm sorry, I probably didn't spend a lot of time writing that month, I do it to relax, I'd rather not make it stressful by trying to meet some arbitrary deadline.**


	3. School's Out, For Summer!

Once the Hogwarts Express started moving Hermione Granger started to become concerned. One of her best friends, Harry Potter, told her that he had something to do before getting on the Hogwarts Express, and that he'd come find them on the train. Her other best friend, Ronald Weasley didn't appear concerned about the lack of Harry's presence when the train set off, in fact he was acting weird himself, and kept glancing over at her. After the first few times, she just started ignoring him in favor of coming up with different things Harry could've done without Ron or her.

After about ten minutes, she started to worry about Harry. They were in their usual compartment at the back of the train, there was no way Harry wouldn't start his search back here, well out of the way of the other students. She had an uneasy feeling about Harry's absence and she couldn't shake the idea that something was wrong. "Ron, don't you think we should be looking for Harry, he hasn't shown up yet."

Her friend looked up at her, "Blimy 'Mione are you barmy? We just started the trip he's fine."

"Ron, what did you call me?"

He blushed, "Oh that, I called you 'Mione, thought it was a nice name for you…" At her glare he trailed off.

"Ron, my name is Hermione, do not call me a pet name without my permission, and furthermore I'm not barmy for worrying about our friend! He said he'd look for us on the train, it doesn't take ten minutes to reach this compartment Ron! I'm going to look for him. I'll feel better when I can confirm he's ok." With that she got up and stormed out of the compartment.

She was fuming about Ron while she checked each train compartment for Harry. Her parents named her after a character from one of Shakespeare's works, she loved her name and didn't like it butchered. It was an important connection she had to the muggle world ever since she had discovered she was magical. She supposed she overreacted and Ron might be taking her abrupt departure the wrong way, but she really was worried about Harry. The sooner she found him, the sooner she could get over this anxiety attack, and hearing Ron butcher her name with something that sounded like he was trying to own her wasn't going to help.

She was close to the front of the train when she spied a familiar face. Well, not face per se, but it was a familiar beak, sadly it was missing its owner. She opened the door to the compartment, "Hedwig? Uh excuse me," she looked over at the blonde girl who was stroking Harry's owl, "but why do you have Harry's owl with you? Have you seen him?"

The blonde, silver-eyed girl looked up from her ministrations, "I found her in the owlery before leaving school, she looked so sad I brought her along with me for the summer." With that short explanation she smiled brightly and went back to stroking Hedwig.

Hermione was staring at her with her mouth open, _she just took his owl. Wait! Why was Hedwig not with Harry before they left school! _Hermione wasn't sure what to do, take Hedwig with her, or go look for Harry and pray he was actually on the Hogwarts Express. One look at Hedwig had her running out the door looking for Harry. Obviously the owl was enjoying the attention after a year of Harry struggling through the tournament. Hedwig would be fine with a few more minutes without Harry.

After getting to the front of the train without seeing Harry, she started checking compartments on the way back to the compartment Ron and her were sharing at the end of the train. After not seeing Harry in a single compartment again, she slammed open their compartment door, "Harry isn't on the train Ron!"

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Molly Weasley bustled into Gringotts before she left for Platform 9 ¾ to pick up her brood of children. First though she needed to get some money, Dumbledore had informed her that her family would be staying over at Sirius Black's old family home this summer. They'd need to clean the house, so that it could be used to fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in safety. It'd also give the kids something to do over the summer to keep them out of trouble.

The family vault didn't have enough money in it to buy food and cleaning supplies for the ancient house. She still had the key to Harry's trust vault though, she was sure he'd let her take the money to help Sirius clean his house, he's such a nice, kind boy.

She walked up to the goblin and handed Harry's key over to the goblin, "I'd like to visit vault 687 please, here's the key." She never really liked the goblins, but since they had control over the wizarding world's gold, she had to put up with them.

The goblin picked up the key, examined it and glanced up at her, "What did you say your name was ma'am?"

"I don't see how that's important, but I'm Molly Weasley."

The goblin scribbled her name into a notebook before responding, "I see. You currently do not have the trust of the account holder to access the account." When she tried to interrupt the goblin held up its claw and continued, "The owner of the account gave control to the goblins, there is also an audit of all connected accounts, currently no human is allowed access to any of Mr. Harry James Potter's account until," it checked one of the many pieces of parchment, "August the Thirty-First, if that is the only business you had here, consider it over. The key is forfeit and shall be given only to Mr. Potter, since it appears that it was out of his possession for nearly a decade."

Molly was shocked, she was about to start on one of her legendary tirades, but spying the goblin guards –and more importantly their swords- she decided to retreat out of the bank. She would go to Dumbledore and he'd set them straight. Until then she wouldn't be able to get anything for the house. In a huff she stormed towards the apparition point of the Alley to go contact Dumbledore.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Tracy Davis climbed off of the Hogwarts Express after what was the most boring trip on the train she had ever taken. Last night when Daphne told her that she'd be riding the train with someone else Tracy took the hint. Daphne didn't like her parent's thoughts on pureblood supremacy, nor would she take a risk, with Dumbledore's warning and Harry Potter appearing bloody after an unauthorized portkey during the third task, Daphne had to be on her guard against the return of the Dark Lord. Last night Daphne really gave her plausible deniability if she was pulling a runner.

She took the hint and didn't bother looking for Daphne this morning at breakfast, nor did she look for an empty compartment on the train. In the end she wound up sitting next to several Hufflepuffs, most of whom were too afraid to even speak. Overall without her best friend to speak with she didn't enjoy the train ride, even if it was fun to ruin someone else's trip just by sharing a compartment.

She spied her parents hiding out near the front of the train, her father admiring the bright red engine. Tracy was an almost perfect copy of her mother, slim figure, brown hair, brown eyes, and cream colored skin. The only thing she inherited from her father, besides her thirst for knowledge, were freckles splattered anywhere and everywhere on her body.

Her father was a muggle inventor, while her mother was a muggleborn witch. Her mother met her father shortly after graduating from Hogwarts, a few years later and shortly before they got married she confessed about being magical. Her father apparently didn't take it well, but nevertheless he showed up to the wedding and went through with it. Whenever Tracy asked why he went through with the marriage, he'd just tell her that some things are worth taking a risk for.

"Hi Tracy!" Her mom ran up to her and gave her a hug. "Oh, it's been so long, how was your year!" Without even waiting for an answer, she started looking around, "Wait a second, where's Daphne?"

As her mother continued to look around for Daphne, Tracy calmly walked over to her father and gave him a hug. "I don't know mother, she said she'd miss me on the train today to sit with someone else." Tracy knew that Daphne probably wasn't on the train at all, but she'd stick with the 'official' story until Daphne told her otherwise. "I suppose I'll just have to wait for a letter this summer to know who was more important then I am," Tracy pretended to cry, "Oh boo-hoo my best friend ditched me, it had better be a boy and he better be cute."

While her mother went on about what type of boy Daphne would find attractive and quizzing Tracy on any boys who might match her idea of a perfect match for Daphne, Tracy's father herded them towards King's Cross and their car.

At the exit to the muggle portion of the station there was a large gathering of people, apparently something big was going on and stalling those who had to go into the muggle world. While waiting to leave, she was questioned by the tall and regal Lord Greengrass about Daphne's whereabouts. Giving the same answer she gave her parents, both Lord and Lady Greengrass sounded annoyed when they found out that no one had seen Daphne all day, but Astoria, Daphne's younger sister, found the same distraction as Tracy's mother and they started to theorize about Daphne's dream man.

Once they were clear of the barrier, apparently someone else was missing too if the crowd stopping and checking everyone at the gate was any indication, the Greengrasses quickly took Astoria and her things and apparated away. Tracy and her parents headed to a restaurant before starting the several-hour car trip home.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Hermione was worried sick about Harry, yesterday he had vanished and no one had found him. The two most plausible explanations were him running away to avoid dealing with Voldemort or him being captured by Voldemort in Hogsmeade.

Unfortunately for Hermione she was leaving today with her parents on their annual trip. For a whole month she would have no contact with her friends, and wouldn't know if Harry was found or what had happened to him.

Her mother had noticed her worrying, but Hermione knew that when she was finally cornered her mother would use the opening to talk about boys, rather then her concern for her friend.

As the plane started its ascent Hermione sighed, "Please be ok, Harry."

Unfortunately for Hermione, Emma Granger heard her. "So Hermione, worried about Harry are we?" It was going to be a long trip to the continent.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

"All in favor of removing Dumbledore from his position as Chief Warlock?" At the question a clear majority of the voting body voted to remove Dumbledore from his position as the head of the Wizengamot, "And so we have a consensus! Albus Dumbledore will no longer be Chief Warlock of this body. Do you have anything to say Dumbledore?"

Blue eyes sparkling the aged wizard began, "Minister as I have explained, Voldemort has returned, Mr. Potter witnessed his resurrection and warned both yourself and myself about the danger to come. I have been doing as Mr. Potter asked and am trying to protect-"

"Mr. Dumbledore, my client has not authorized you to give any statements on his behalf, in the interest of preventing the slander and libel that has been unapologetically happening we have decided to intervene with your callous use of Mr. Potter's name in preaching your own message." Several goblins had appeared in the courtroom and slammed a stack of parchment in front of Fudge. "Furthermore," the goblin nodded at its cohorts, "due to Mr. Potter's request we have been going over his accounts, all those who have tried to access his account during the period between his parent's deaths, and his re-introduction to the magical world will be fined 500 galleons for each attempt. Until we can review each instance the following accounts are under a writ of suspension: Malfoy, Nott, Fudge, Dumbledore, Greengrass, Prewitt, McDougal, Snape, Flint, Fawley, Fletcher, McGover, Parkenson, Rosier, Bulstrode, and Avery. Until further notice all the accounts cannot be accessed."

Several of the gathered families started shouting out in indignation about the goblins trying to steal their fortunes. Umbridge and Fudge were sputtering in rage shouting about the goblins overstepping their boundaries locking the accounts of several prominent families. After several minutes, during which the goblins were handing out their writs of suspension, the chaos finally calmed enough for Dumbledore to be heard. "My dear goblins, surely you are overreacting. Trying to learn what happened to such a prestigious account should not be met with such hostility. Clearly we were concerned over who was in trust of the account after young James and Lily's passing."

Not one for platitudes Wraithrope stopped Dumbledore from continuing, "Mr. Dumbledore, it does not concern us the reason for inspection of the account as of this moment. If you truly did not try to illegally gain control, secure funds from, or gain a statement for Mr. Potter's account illegally, then you will not be fined, all accounts will remain frozen until such a time that we can review each endeavor case-by-case. Those who tried to illegally utilize Mr. Potter's account during the time he was unaware of them shall be fined for each instance, no exceptions."

"While we are on the topic of accounts connected to Mr. Potter though, we should move onto the next case. Since Lord Sirius Black is currently wanted by the ministry, and as of his last will with Gringotts he named Mr. Potter his heir, all attempts to gain control of the accounts tied to Mr. Black since the date of his arrest through the day Mr. Potter authorized Gringotts to perform an audit on his accounts shall of course be noted, and a smaller fine of 100 galleons shall be levied on those guilty parties. The names are as follows: Malfoy, Nott, Travers, Umbridge, Snape, Dumbledore, Fudge, Fletcher, Tundill, Weasley, Lestrange, Greengrass, and Selwyn. As is the case with Mr. Potter's accounts all of the names listed shall now be serviced with a writ of suspension," here the goblin's fellows handed out a second stack of notifications, "Of course the Lestrange family is currently locked up in Azkaban and as such that account is already suspended, so there will be no notifications for them."

Once all the forms were passed out and the families were notified of their vaults the goblins lined up behind Wraithrope. "Finally I am here to give Harry James Potter's official position on the topic being covered here today when we entered. It seems that others have chosen to ruin his reputation when he has remained silent on the matter. Any new coverage that implies or confirms any other position shall be dealt with to protect Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter believes the Dark Lord Voldemort," shudders, gasps and screams erupted from the gathered crowd, "has returned, he plans to ensure his safety and has warned Mr. Dumbledore, Minister Fudge, and Gringotts of what he witnessed. He personally does not wish to preach on the topic and leaves the warning in the hands of those who needed to hear it the most. Unlike what Mr. Dumbledore is trying to convey he does not offer urgency or pleas to his message, he just left the message for us to do with as we will. I am sure Mr. Potter's position in the matter of the Minister's choice to ignore his warning would be to leave the ministry alone, everyone is free to make their own choice on the matter. Unless Mr. Potter himself comes forward himself to change his statement with Gringotts, that is his official position on the topic of the Dark Lord's return."

With that the delegation of goblins left the Wizengamot chambers, before anyone else could truly react Madam Bones spoke up, "It looks like the Potter votes you cast defending yourself the past few days are no longer in your control Professor Dumbledore, and neither are the Black votes you pledged with also. I make an official motion to remove the Potter and Black votes from the Wizengamot until they are validated by Mr. Potter or Mr. Black." Quite quickly Dumbledore lost all but one of his votes, and quite a bit of his prestige. It seemed even old allies were turning on him in an effort to distance themselves from the fallen star. _I just have to wait for the moment Tom reveals himself to the wizarding world again to fix this, but how to regain control of the votes and stop the goblins from looking too closely at Harry's donations to the Greater Good?_

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Ron was not having a good summer. First his best friend Harry ditched Hermione and him on the train. This would be fine by Ron, but Hermione was obviously more interested in Harry. Ron would have to talk to Ginny about what to do, if Harry became interested in Hermione they'd end up getting together, Ginny wanted to be Harry Potter's wife, and Ron wouldn't mind the attention and money the family would get so he wanted Harry to marry Ginny.

The next problem was that his mother had them cleaning the second they returned from Hogwarts. She said that during the summer they'd need to move for their protection, so she wanted the Burrow to be spotless, then they'd end up cleaning this place she only would call "The Headquarters" for the rest of the summer.

At the Burrow he could hide from his family by going into the woods by his house, or heading down to the stream. Now though, he'll be spending an entire summer inside this headquarters, his mother said they wouldn't be leaving for the rest of the summer.

Ron felt a shiver imagining what would happen being stuck inside a house with the twins. He wished Harry would be there, both to distract them and give him an out for being a testing dummy.

The prevailing thought at the Weasley household was that Harry was kidnapped by a death eater when he was doing whatever it was he wanted to do alone before getting on the train.

Only the twins didn't believe that stance, they decided that Harry was kidnapped by a lovestruck fangirl and was being used as a living doll for the summer so she could live out her fantasies. When his father came home a few days later with the news that Daphne Greengrass, the "Ice Queen" of Hogwarts had run away too, they had a culprit. Claiming her as a closet fangirl, she stole him away to a retreat on the continent and any day now they'd get an owl from Hermione claiming she had to rescue Harry.

Ron hoped that Harry wasn't captured by any Slytherins, death eaters or rabid fangirls, they were all evil. Only his sister was meant to be with Harry, and since he was the only one she'd accept as a husband Harry had to marry her, that was all there was to it.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

"Sirius, you can't leave. What about when Harry…" Siruis cut off his best living friend before he could try to talk him out of leaving, again.

"Remus, none of you even know where my godson is, I'll leave my house for the order, but I'm not doing anything here. I have business I can be doing and I'm only a criminal in Britain. Magical Britain only notified muggle Britain, in Europe and the rest of the world I'm just another nobody. I am leaving."

Sirius stormed out of the dark old house, and before any of the order members could catch up to him apparated to Dover. From there he quickly stowed away on a boat, soon the world would have to tremble for Sirius Black was leaving Britain.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

"Severus, what further information does the order have on Potter?" Voldemort hissed when his inner circle meeting began.

At the beginning of summer many of the Dark Lord's faithful followers had turned up with the news that Harry Potter ran away. Severus led the group, showing up before the train, and therefore many of his followers' children, had pulled in to platform nine and three quarters. He informed Voldemort that Dumbledore had received an owl claiming Potter's little friends couldn't find him on the Express.

The second family to arrive didn't have news that Potter was missing, but that their daughter had also pulled a runner. They did confirm that there were people searching the platform when they left for another missing person, and they had yet to inform the ministry that their prodigy of a daughter had left, just in case their master had instructions for them. He chose to let the ministry find her, the news about Potter being missing took precedence, followed closely by recruiting. He just didn't have the resources to track down the girl, even if she would be an asset, she was after-all just a child, and there was much she could learn.

The rest of his minions came confirming Severus' information, Harry Potter was nowhere to be found, and Dumbledore was using what little influence that the ministry wasn't removing to try to find him, proving to the Dark Lord that this wasn't a ploy to get him to waste time trying to find the brat.

The issue now was it had been three days; three days that none of his informants had gotten a single shred of evidence to where the boy might be hiding. He was a fourteen year old boy, his adult followers should be able to find him and whatever pathetic defenses he has. Either that or the boy should realize that he can't survive on his own and come crawling back to the wizarding world. But so far neither of those scenarios were playing out, the worthless boy-who-wouldn't-die was hiding, and remaining hidden from him.

If the order had found him first, then that would explain why his followers couldn't track the boy, Dumbledore's protection would ensure that the boy remain hidden away until the next school year. Unfortunately Severus wasn't on his vacation yet, so he couldn't get away from Hogwarts or Dumbledore often until after the teacher's school year was over. Luckily he was able to come in tonight, because tonight was also a meeting for Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, which Severus informed him was reformed after Potter returned to warn the headmaster of Voldemort's return.

"I'm sorry my Lord, none of the order has seen Harry Potter. I'm afraid to say the most popular theory as to his whereabouts is that he was kidnapped by Death Eaters before boarding the train. Unless some have come forward with him in the past couple of days, I'll propose that Potter ran off with the Greengrass heiress, and that she is currently using her talent to keep him hidden."

Voldemort used his legilimency to view Snape's memories. He saw in the meeting how frantic everyone was, and heard the ideas passed around. It was Snape himself who suggested the pair ran off together to the Order, and Voldemort felt the disgust Snape had in the girl for aiding Potter. Snape's idea made sense. The idea of Potter evading him alone was unreasonable. Greengrass on the other hand was fairly interested, and adept, at runes. She could potentially cover their tracks well enough that the average wizard wouldn't notice their hiding place. Slowly Voldemort withdrew himself from Snape's mind.

"I see, I agree with your idea Snape. For now we'll operate under the assumption that they are together. Searching for them as we are right now is meaningless, for now we must concentrate on bolstering my forces. Leave some in Diagon Alley and St. Mungos for now, otherwise we'll call off the search. Now begone!"

With that his inner circle left to do his bidding, yes Potter should be dealt with swiftly, but first Voldemort needed to know more about the prophecy. If he remembered correctly prophecies were considered state secrets, and where else to keep a secret but the department of mysteries.

Yes, Potter would pay, but for now he would deal with more urgent matters, let the children think they were safe. Potter had effectively diverted Dumbledore's attention, and the ministry would put manpower into finding the Greengrass heiress and was currently destroying Dumbledore's support. Voldemort could afford to ignore Potter a little longer, he had more pressing matters to concern himself with.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Dolores Umbridge was working at the ministry late one night. Searching through papers she was hoping to find a way to discredit Albus Dumbledore or Harry Potter further. They really were too much of a distraction for the countries beloved minister. Cornelius had more to do then worry about them trying to overthrow him as minister.

Sadly for her Dumbledore seemed to be a clean sheet, she couldn't find so much as a single provable offence against the ministry, in fact until now his record was clean of everything. No wonder the country hailed him as the Leader of the Light, such a shame he chose now to go against the country, she'd have to make a few things up, as long as they weren't too unbelievable in the beginning no one would question the validity of them.

As for Potter there were an amazing amount of rumors about him and all the trouble he gets into, but she could only find one case of him doing magic outside of school, and Fudge himself pardoned the boy. Sadly Hogwarts had not filed a single thing about the boy's schooling or academic troublemaking. She'd have to bring that up to Fudge, why was there nothing on Potter when every year a new rumor about his misadventures came through the woodwork? She checked again, the citation was filled out correctly, Mafalda really did her work well, even the location that the owls were sent was included. Normally it wasn't included to keep the location of pureblood's manors a secret, but Potter wasn't a pureblood and this listed as him living in a muggle neighborhood. Dolores copied the file and left the ministry for the night, she could find some way to work with this information. Dumbledore might be losing touch with reality, but she was sure that Potter went home for the summer, after all kids want to escape school, he probably just left school early without permission like the rotten little boy he was.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Amelia Bones was seated in her office having a nice lunch with her niece hearing about whatever censored version of the exploits Susan and her best friend Hannah had the past year. Normally the two of them got together early in the summer, but this year Susan had gone on the Abbott's trip to the Mediterranean Sea. She wasn't even certain which country the Abbotts went to on their trips there, but Susan enjoyed the trip. Susan insisted it had to be Italy, even if she could barely understand Latin, and she used the language for classes!

So here Amelia was listening to her niece prattle on about her last eleven months, Amelia couldn't believe how much she had grown, but she also knew that bringing it up would just needlessly bother Susan. Indulgently she smiled and nodded in all the right places as her niece wildly and excitedly talked about everything, even if she was probably not giving all the details about her "not really a date" with a boy from Bulgaria. It probably wasn't anything too terrible, she was much too upbeat if she did anything improper and then they broke up. Amelia highly doubted that all they did was a single goodnight kiss though, and she was pretty certain that Susan knew that she didn't believe it.

Shortly after describing how Harry Potter looked after his portkey trip, and just finishing her trip on the Hogwarts Express (Again her story had some holes from her omitting details) there was an urgent knock on Amelia's door. Looking at the grandfather clock she kept in her office she noted it was indeed past the lunch hour she had demanded remain uninterrupted so she could reconnect with her niece. Actually it was precisely an hour after her demand, obviously whoever wanted to be invited in wasn't from her department, none of them were this prompt, and even if they needed something it'd probably be put off until they remembered, which could span days as far as the Sirius Black case was concerned.

"I'm sorry honey, it appears someone can't wait for me, would you like to stay until the ministry closes, or do you want me to send someone to see you home?" While she wasn't happy that someone was interrupting her time with Susan, it was her fault for becoming the head of the DMLE, some days it seemed like everyone wanted to bother her, and Susan was always gone so long that all she wanted to do during summer was spend time with her rapidly growing little niece.

"It's ok Aunty, I'll stay. This is the first I've seen you since last September! You haven't even heard about all the things I saw with Hannah in Italy!" Susan dragged her chair over to Amelia's side of the desk while Amelia went to the door. She shook her head, Susan's heart was in the right place, wanting to spend time with her, but if Susan really thought that it was the trip Amelia cared about she was a little dense. _Ah well, at least I can spend time with her and make her happy, not that we see each other often anymore._

Amelia opened the door and standing outside were two people, Dolores Umbridge and Mafalda Hopkirk. Amelia raised an eyebrow at the pair, what possible reason would both an assistant in the Improper Use of Magic Office and the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister have to be visiting her? She saw a lot of Hopkirk during the summer, she saw almost everyone from her office at some point during the summer, normally though it was just to update criminal files for underage magic violations. Not that those mattered much, mostly they were citations or mentions of suspected activities, very few cases were actually pursued. Madam Umbridge she saw a lot of on a regular basis, but generally with Minister Fudge, there shouldn't be a reason for her to be here. Then Amelia noticed a third person hovering just behind the two senior officials, a junior auror who apparently got saddled with delivering whatever news was supposed to reach her before her two other guests. It was probably put off until after her lunch hour, but unlike the rest of the ministry, aurors weren't expected to be punctual, they were expected to fight, Amelia didn't have enough recruits to turn down many, so she made do with what the ministry allowed.

"Well, the three of you may as well come in, anyone else out there that needs to see me when I'm sure I informed everyone that I was having lunch with my niece?" The two senior officials just strode into her office, but her junior auror seemed embarrassed and unsure of herself as she quickly scrambled into the office.

After the three conjured their own chairs and settled in, Amelia sat down herself. "Very well, Auror Tonks, would you care to inform me why you needed me?" Madam Umbridge looked appalled at not being given Amelia's full attention first, but Amelia was fairly certain that whatever reasons her auror had to see here would shed light on why she had both Hopkirk and Umbridge in her office.

"Well ma'am earlier this morning there was a call in from a squib named Arabella Figg. Dementors attacked some muggles near her house. A squad went there earlier this morning and confirmed the muggles had lost their souls. As far as we can tell it wasn't a wizard because there was no residual magic on the muggles, nor in the location Miss Figg showed us the bodies were picked up. Currently dementors are the most likely of the possibilities-"

"Hem hem" Umbridge chose to interrupt the report. Amelia turned her gaze onto her, she also managed to make the obese woman flinch, but sadly Amelia's glare didn't have enough potency to cause Dolores Umbridge to let her auror finish the report. She continued in her sickenly sweet voice "Amelia, I believe your aurors are forgetting the most likely scenario isn't rouge dementors, because I assure you all of them have been and always will be under the ministry's control. The real culprit is Harry Potter, Mafalda here tells me that Mr. Potter has received a warning about the Statute of Secrecy previously, and he has chosen to ignore it. I'm sure if you just sent your aurors back there we could get him to admit cursing the muggles, and then we could find out how we didn't know when he did it."

Umbridge looked smug at her declaration, while Amelia's auror and niece looked shocked and appalled that someone would suggest the boy-who-lived would use dark magic. Her auror decided to start arguing with the Senior Undersecretary, about how Harry Potter couldn't have removed the souls of a group of muggle boys without magic, and how no one even knew where he was. Umbridge seemed insistent that he was at his home and at fault, even though dementors were a perfectly reasonable answer to why a group of muggle boys in surrey were suddenly soulless without magic being responsible.

It was highly improbable that a fifteen year old wizard knew such dark magic. Improbable yes, but it wasn't impossible, and as head of the DMLE it was Amelia's duty to find out if it was indeed a possibility that Harry Potter could jeopardize the safety of the wizarding world. In Amelia's personal opinion it seemed far more likely that a rouge dementor or two escaped and were hungry, it wouldn't be the first time some had left the island. This made Amelia wonder why Umbridge was against the idea. Sadly Amelia couldn't investigate her hunch without a senior member of the ministry, a member of the Wizengamot, or undeniable proof of action or inaction on the part of Dolores Umbridge. Amelia doubted something sinister, but figured Umbridge was trying something with the dementors that probably backfired and led to this incident, and now she wanted to cover it up and use Potter as a scapegoat. If not Potter then Dumbledore would've been an option, it seemed like Fudge and Umbridge were trying to pin the two of them for any and all issues with the ministry. Potter was mostly untouchable now due to the goblins, but a criminal charge, even if dismissed to lack of evidence, could be put in the paper as legitimate, and the goblins wouldn't be able to counter it.

Cutting herself from her musings, she noticed that her niece had joined the auror's side in the argument against Umbridge. Hopkirk seemed uncomfortable, so Amelia guessed she was just there to lend credence to Umbridge's story, until that backfired with two young girls joining in on the conversation. Now she just seemed to want to leave the office and leave the Senior Undersecretary to the, currently, two fiery redheads vehemently defending the boy-who-lived.

Amelia almost smiled at the actions of her niece defending Harry Potter. It appeared, despite all of her claims otherwise, that the crush Susan had on the boy-who-lived as a child never fully dissipated. Idly Amelia wondered if her junior auror once had a crush on him as well, considering neither of the two were currently considering the possibility that the boy, whom she was sure neither had ever honestly met or tried to know, could be different then they imagined him.

Umbridge did not seem to find the situation as amusing as Amelia, and was probably getting ready to try and abuse her position to bully the child, and pseudo-adult into listening to her. Amelia supposed she could effectively neutralize her auror this way, all that would serve would be making Susan livid. Blowing up on the Senior Undersecretary would effectively cripple her in a few years if she wanted a government job, Dolores Umbridge could be petty and vindictive when she wished to be. The last thing Amelia wanted was her niece to be doomed from taking up a working position after Hogwarts because someone couldn't understand a childhood crush.

Before the situation could escalate further Amelia intervened. "It seems to me that we have a very large problem on our hands. I personally find both situations possible, but it is clear one of them is extremely unlikely. Regardless of his involvement, Mr. Potter should be notified of the attack and brought in for questioning at the least." At Umbridge's smug smile she continued, "This does not however account for guilt," as this the woman's face fell, "it is merely a cursory check with him, with all the rumors going around of him gone missing I don't think he'd risk exposure to harm some muggles."

"Hem hem," There she was again, interrupting. The minister really gave her too much leeway, but until she did something unforgivable Amelia stopping her would only serve to posture and lead to unnecessary trouble. "Amelia you are forgetting this is a second offence for him, the minister and I decided he needed a trial in front of the Wizengamot."

Amelia's eyebrows rose, "You forget yourself Madam Umbridge, I'll allow you to bring the Wizengamot in and prosecution, but I, and I alone decide his fate for an investigation. Do not forget that he cannot be tried for anything when the investigation is being led by my department. You may indeed lead the prosecution and questioning of him, but to try him in front of the Wizengamot allows him legal defense, while the prosecution must be the accusers, which stands as you. The minister is not allowed to prosecute anyone in front of the Wizengamot until the DMLE's investigation leads to them as a suspect. Since currently Harry Potter is only being questioned, he is not a suspect until proven as one, is that clear."

Amelia could put up with Umbridge trying to bend the rules to suit her own agenda, but when it interferes with Amelia's duties she needs to learn her place. She could let everyone think the law was being bent to get Harry Potter a criminal trial, but this would only be a questioning. The Wizengamot could vote to send him to prison for all she cared, if Amelia found him to not be responsible, he'd get off.

"Very well then I'll see to his trial. I'll send you the date so you can inform him as soon as possible." With that the squat lady stormed out, with Hopkirk slinking out in her wake. Amelia also dismissed her auror leaving both her and her niece alone again. Susan seemed decently angry over the turn of events.

"So honey, I believe we were on your summer." Effectively distracting Susan would have to do, Amelia would have to deal with the minister and his undersecretary some other day, but for now she wanted to hear more about her niece before the girl started to miss her friends again.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Sirius Black was enjoying his vacation. He'd visited several old family contacts about helping Harry, and was currently taking a break in France. He also doubted anyone would mind that his "break" had spanned the last week and involved visiting as many nude and topless beaches as possible. Secretly he was hoping that Harry would turn up at one of them, Sirius certainly didn't stay in England when he ran away, both last year and this year. Hopefully Harry was out living his youth, and certainly idle curiosity would bring him to view public nude beaches, or at the very least a topless one.

Regardless currently Sirius was examining the very fine specimens that were playing on the beach. He could've sworn he saw a couple of veela around and there were some veritable French beauties wandering around. Some were a little young for his tastes, but this was a topless beach, so age wasn't as big of an issue, as long as they were accompanied by adults.

Suddenly there was a commotion nearby, some little French girl was gibbering away at a boy with mousy brown hair. A black haired regal girl (_Easily a nine_) was struggling to hold back giggles, as the little girl's family came over to find out why she so suddenly jumped onto the boy. Sirius watched as his eyes widened in shock. His. Bright. Emerald. Eyes. Sirius jumped up and rushed over himself, "Harry!?"

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Dominique Delacour watched as his youngest daughter Gabrielle ran off and latched herself onto a young man and started rapidly speaking in French. When she started calling him her hero, and going on about marriage, Dominique started making his way over, he noticed his other daughter, Fleur, was also coming over with his wife, Apolline.

The boy, for his part, appeared to not understand his daughter, but his companion was almost in tears trying to hold back her laughter. She was around the boy's age, her hair was nearly as dark as the night sky, and her eyes were an amazing sapphire blue. The boy on the other hand had mousy brown hair, and emerald green eyes. As he got closer to the boy he noticed a faint outline of a scar on his forehead, almost as if it was covered by a halfhearted layer of makeup that came off in the water.

Dominique heard someone shout, "Harry!" from behind him. A quick glance around showed a bronzed dark-haired man, he seemed to be someone who exercised at one point in time, then spent a long time with an unhealthy lifestyle, and only recently was he taking care of himself again. Dominique also didn't miss the English accent.

Quickly focusing on his daughter he asked, "_Gabrielle, do you know this young man?_" His daughters did not run up to random people, hug them and declare them their betrothed. Mostly his daughters tended to keep away from men, especially given their veela background, most men tended to leer at them. As his wife informed him men who leer at women make the woman uncomfortable and it can be a major turn off. For veela this is intensified since they are always leered at, they feel men's stares on them all the time.

"_It's Harry Potter, Papa. His hair is a different color, but this is Harry Potter I just know it!_" Dominique didn't miss how the young man's friend immediately stiffened when she heard the name, nor how the boy openly gaped at his daughter for noticing.

"Harry, is that really you?" The other man had come over and had obviously heard his daughter. Dominique also noticed the crowd slowly gathering, obviously the group of seven would only attract more attention. The other man wasn't thinking clearly, the two teens looked like they were caught and his daughters were grilling the poor young boy, they needed to get somewhere more private for this reunion. Dominique had to intervene quickly before this required damage control.

"If it is you Monsieur Potter, why don't we head to my home, it'll be more private then the beach." With a shared look, obviously the two teens had been together awhile, they both turned and nodded, and quickly Dominique gathered his new party and headed home.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Later that night at supper, the group finally reconvened. Sirius Black, whom was the older gentleman and Harry Potter's godfather, had to go to his inn to pick up some things. He was a tall man, with dark hair, and grey eyes. The most striking thing about him was how unnaturally pale he seemed once inside, especially given that Dominique didn't think that today was his first trip to a topless or nude beach recently.

The two children also had to pick up their things, though unlike Sirius, they went to a hotel in the muggle world. After the glamour charms came off Harry Potter was a black haired, green eyed young man. He was a little short for his age, and seemed stunted, but he carried himself with a calm confidence, and was fairly well dressed. From the information he gathered from his eldest daughter, this was a new, and obviously well received from the looks the young man was getting, thing for him. The boy's traveling companion was named Daphne Greengrass, and had silky black hair with her vivid blue eyes. She was slightly taller then average, with slightly bronzed skin, obviously like Sirius, the two were spending their summer visiting beaches.

Sitting at the table Dominique couldn't help but smile at the young pair. The young lady easily talked with his eldest daughter and his wife. Normally other women felt insecure around the two of them at first, it was only after getting to know them that most other women got past their insecurity. Daphne on the other hand didn't seem to mind being next to the two unnaturally beautiful women, she was perfectly happy gossiping and talking about fashion, especially after she pointed out that for the past month her only traveling companion was a boy.

Harry on the other hand seemed endlessly patient. While he seemed to fall for the allure that veela sometimes emitted, he recovered quickly and his actions weren't obscene or foolish like most others. With his youngest daughter though he never once refused her or in any way acted like he didn't want to spend time with her. This apparently suited his daughter just fine, she still hadn't forgotten her hero from the second task and spent the whole day talking to him, with him not understanding a word, about their future together. He didn't once try to stop her, even after he found out what she was talking about, he just wanted her to be happy and smile. He didn't once ask to get away from her the entire day, it wasn't until his wife took her to get washed up for dinner that he had a free moment away from the excitable preteen.

Dominique was quite happy with his three guests, and his family was quite taken with the two younger guests, Sirius was more someone Dominique himself got along with, but he knew his family wouldn't be against him inviting the three to stay for awhile. Sirius and Harry looked like they could use some catching up, and Daphne obviously wanted a bit of girl time. A few days over, getting to meet new people always helped a man in his position, and they were wonderful people who got along with his family, no better choice.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z- Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Albus Dumbledore looked at the summons in his hands in shock. It was a trial for Harry Potter on using underage magic and dark magic on muggles. While normally this wouldn't be a major cause for concern and would only be a slight waste of his diminishing time to prepare for Voldemort, right now since Harry Potter was still missing this trial would be a major issue. Without Harry, it would take more of his resources to keep the boy from becoming a criminal. If that happened Harry would be removed from school, and out of his control. With a sigh Dumbledore got ready for sleep, tomorrow he'd have to start preparing a defense for Harry without the main perpetrator present. This was going to be a long week for Albus Dumbledore.

**Still on the introductory chapters, this one was my attempt at setting up other characters and their mentalities. Mostly I wanted this chapter because I plan this to be mostly Harry/Daphne perspective, I don't want them being omniscient and suddenly Harry noticed and reacts to all the character flaws. He will notice some things, but I'm not going to have him outright shun Ron.**

**Before anyone starts, I'm not really going for Weasley/Dumbledore bashing, but as characters, I just don't prefer them. Don't expect there to be a lot of love towards Molly, Ron or Dumbledore, but I'm not going to outright try to include them just as a punching bag.**

**I tried to cut some longer paragraphs and split them in two, I'm not too great at writing, so feedback on that is nice. I always like long paragraphs, as long as they focus on a singular theme. Hopefully this chapter did better, if not I'll keep trying, that's the best I can offer.**

**Thanks for all the encouragement from everyone else, I'm glad everyone liked my explanation for the Fidelius Charm. That was a major plothole I noticed that no one really mentions. Somehow EVERYONE knows about the location at Godric's Hollow, despite it being hidden. So I decided to give it a major flaw that could be explained for that and Grimmauld. If Albus was secret keeper and it was cast by McGonagall or Flitwick, it could potentially last well above average (that or recast just before Dumbledore's death, which was close to summer).**

**Next chapter should finish up summer, the trial among other things. I'm not looking forward to the trial, there's a lot there to include. I'm also thinking about adding in a talent for Harry. Not something overpowering, but he'll have spent a lot of time around Daphne, and I left off with him enjoying runes, why wouldn't I have something in the field that interests him more then anything else?**


	4. All Good Things, Come to an End

"We the Wizengamot will now start the disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August, Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, who has chosen not to show, on trial. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Offences are the breaking of the International Statute of Secrecy and the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Since Mr. Potter has decided not to come we can-"

"Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," choosing to not let the minister finish, he continued, "Sorry for being so late, until just now I missed any information regarding a change in venue. However due to a lucky mistake I arrived three hours early and a friend informed me about the earlier meeting."

Just as quickly as Dumbledore a third party joined the courtroom. Three goblins entered shortly after Dumbledore, and so caught the end of the minister's introduction, and Dumbledore's interruption. "I'm sorry Mr. Dumbledore, but I'm afraid you have no right to represent our client in this courtroom, especially since I have the first notification for you, about the theft of nine thousand galleons from Mr. Potter's trust vault over the years. Luckily we managed to retrieve all of what you owed to Mr. Potter, however your account is still in default until our investigation is over. Unfortunately for you Mr. Dumbledore we will represent Mr. Potter in this trial." To the Wizengamot Wraithorpe continued, "I wish Gringotts was notified of this trial for our client. As it is, we are woefully under prepared for this-"

"I believe that we can 'elp with the proceedings." A short plump man with a neatly trimmed black beard strolled up with two children in his wake. The pair had a tall statuesque blonde, with sapphire eyes, and a stunted, tan, dark haired teen with green eyes. Before the court had a chance to interrupt the man continued, "Dominique Delacour, 'ead auror of The French Ministry, 'ere to represent Mr. Harry James Potter. I present Miss Fleur Isabelle Delacour, witness, and Mr. Harry James Potter, defendant to the court. We apologize for being late, but we only learned of this trial last night in France."

Upon seeing the goblins, the young man was quick to bow and greet them, "Hello Wraithorpe, how have you been? We didn't know you would be here or we would've sent you a message."

The effect of the young man was subtle and instantaneous, the two goblins flanking the lead goblin, whom Harry addressed by name, relaxed towards him. It was noticeable to the rest of the court though, that everyone else was not part of this. The goblins only relaxed for Harry, not his companions, not Dumbledore, nor any of the Wizengamot. Quite amicably the lead goblin responded, "Why Mr. Potter, what luck! We came in regards to the audit on your account, and by chance discovered this is a trial against you. I find myself glad that you came, we would have had quite some trouble defending you in a case we learn about while entering the courtroom."

"Oh don't worry about that, you've done more then enough for me this summer! We," Harry gestured to Dominique and Fleur, "are more then prepared for this trial. If you have any help we'd appreciate it of course."

"No Mr. Potter, if you have this under control, then we have other business. Until our meeting, please take care of yourself." Without further fanfare the goblins left the chambers.

Smiling Dominique took control of the courtroom, "Now, I'd like this to be quick. The charges against my client are breaking of the International Statute of Secrecy and the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, no? If that's the case this will be very easy!" He smiled while clapping his hands together.

Dominique quickly pulled out an envelope, "I 'ave 'ere a list of all magical tourists to enter France legally. Notice that on the thirtieth of June, one Harry James Potter was witnessed to cross the border into France." Quickly continuing before he could be interrupted, "The attack that 'appened that you are accusing Mr. Potter of 'appened after he crossed the border into France. The day after the attack, my family and I ran into Mr. Potter, where my daughters insisted that 'e remain with us for the remainder of his time in France. The 'otel he was staying at confirmed that he 'ad spent the previous week there."

Harry started feeling relieved when the court started murmuring and whispering among themselves. He chanced a look at minister Fudge, and noticed how ashen his face looked, on the other hand the squat plump lady next to him was crimson with barely contained fury. Next to the pair was a stern looking woman with a monocle who was staring at him closely making him slightly self-conscious.

Fleur patted him on the shoulder getting his attention. When he turned to her she smiled and mouthed, "_Remember Daphne_" before facing the court as a prim, regal young lady. Harry calmed down and smiled, he knew that Fleur came because Daphne couldn't and they both agreed he'd need a calming influence today. Harry was glad that Daphne had found another friend. She had a brave face but Harry knew she was hurting without Tracy.

After turning back to the stern woman she nodded and straightened up, if that was even possible, and announced to the court, "Well with that information, I've made up my mind. Unless you have anything to add Delores?" The squat little toad-like woman puffed up, looked at Dominique and deflated, stuttering and sighing she waved off the lady with the monocle and glared at Harry.

Looking at Harry, Madam Bones continued, "Unless anyone wishes to dispute France's evidence, I think Mr. Potter can go. With him having an entire nation as an alibi, it does make my job so much easier." Harry could've sworn he saw her smile, but he blinked and her face was just as stern as ever.

Harry blinked a few times, that was entirely too easy. Nothing in his life went that smoothly, they didn't even have to present any other evidence. Dominique insisted that the trial was a farce and they'd have no problems, but you'd think that gathering the entire Wizengamot together they'd have more of a case.

Harry and Fleur stood quietly as Dominique led them towards the floos, stopping often to speak with ministry officials. Quite often he had to vaguely explain how Harry had come to visit. Unsurprisingly considering how Harry and Fleur remained silent and didn't speak to anyone, he also had to often explain that, as far as he knew, they weren't dating. Each time he said that he received a pair of glares. He knew that Harry was with Daphne, and they were both young enough to worry about how she would react to his teasing.

After what felt like an eternity to the two teens they finally reached the floos, Dominique and Fleur would continue on and activate their portkey back to France, but Harry had other business and would be remaining in England for the rest of his summer.

Fleur rushed up and hugged the young man before he could leave, "'Ave a good year 'Arry, Daphne and you must visit us again soon! Send me an owl soon, I expect one from both of you or I will be most upset." After she extracted herself she kissed both of his cheeks, "I'll miss both of you."

Dominique smiled at the blushing Harry and shook his hand, "It was a most pleasant couple of weeks 'Arry, Daphne and yourself are welcome at any time, Gabrielle will be inconsolable without her prince." Smiling at the now mortified young man he wished him well as Harry practically tripped into the floo to escape the teasing.

"_Do you think they'll visit papa?" _Fleur asked while walking towards their destination. _"It has been awhile since I've had someone to spend time with, and 'Arry was so good with Gabrielle, though I think we do need to explain about Daphne and him."_ His daughter continued in this vein until they both went back to France, where without the couple the mansion they lived in felt quiet and empty.

**Z~Z**

Daphne quickly found her room in the little shack, not that it was a difficult endeavor. There was a kitchen/living room, and two doors leading to their separate rooms in the small house. All she had to do was enter the door marked 'Miss Daphne' and she got to see her room for the first time since they started living here. Back in June the two shared the single bedroom the house offered, Harry chose to sleep on the floor making it easier on her.

The two elves spent the month and a half the two wizards were vacationing fixing the house to support the inhabitants, though where the elves chose to sleep was beyond her, and making the island more beautiful. Where once there was sparse shrubbery and stone, making the island look like a gigantic rock stuck out in the sea, there was now a miniature forest, complete with stream and pond, behind the house. In the front the house was now facing a beach, with the dock centered on the elf-made beach. There was a defined path leading to the dock, with a garden around the front of the house, giving it a more homey appearance.

The house itself was made of brick now, a dark grey, highlighted in an almost cream color, making the doors and windows pop out from the house. Inside the walls were painted in light colors, the main living room was a tan color, with multicolored furniture and floors. Obviously the elves were a little confused on how to color coordinate, but this was their home now, she'd have time to fix it. Her room was done with rose colored walls and furniture, the carpet was dark blood red, but everything she cared about was inside. A full wall was converted into a bookcase, and the books she had collected were organized by subject. She was sure Harry's room had a similar layout, the two of them spent almost all of their time early on learning magic and studying.

Due to their overzealous attitudes to learning how to keep themselves safe, they each now had personal libraries on runes, most of their collections had the same books, but each of them had a few that they could only find one copy of, and each of them had extremely rare books that only had a couple of copies worldwide. Daphne's runic library was more geared towards enchanting, while Harry tended to favor tokens. Both of them found they were gifted with warding, Harry tended to be better with charmed warding, and Daphne preferred centered wards, but they both could do everything the other could. Daphne just got tired while casting the wards faster then Harry, and vise-versa Harry had to think longer about how to setup centered wards. Daphne was also more into astronomy and arithmancy, Harry preferred magical creatures and charms, their personal libraries reflected their tastes in magical fields.

Daphne was glad for the vacation, she enjoyed spending time with Harry. While he had some obvious issues, she managed to work through a few of them with him. He was much better looking after spending a summer with her, they both got a lot of sun over the summer, and she fixed his clothing issue. While he was still short for his age and probably wouldn't ever be tall or well built, a proper diet was doing wonders for him. He still would jump at the chance to help others, but now he would think ahead and get help if he needed it, rather then try to do everything himself.

Another gift that she received from this summer was a new friend. Unexpectedly it was the French champion, all the last year she thought that the girl was stuck up, an arrogant French beauty that was only coasting through school, and would continue to coast through life on the tail of some rich wizard. She was quite glad to be wrong. Fleur was quite enjoyable to talk with, especially after a month with Harry. She truly enjoyed talking with Harry, but sometimes she just needed girl time. With the little girl shadowing Harry, who still tried to make those around him happy, Daphne spent most of her time with Fleur.

After Daphne finished unpacking her belongings, and rearranging her room more to her liking, she began to look around for space for their new pets. During their trip Harry had come across several magical creatures, which led to his greater interest in magical creatures, and they had three that they just couldn't leave behind. The elves had taken care of them while they stayed at the Delacour's mansion, and Daphne missed her little snake during the short stay. Hogwarts wasn't going to be very fun either, luckily the pets would be here, but to go nearly ten months without seeing them would be miserable. Sadly the three pets were classified as dangerous, pretty much worldwide. The elves would need to find a way to secretly get them to the island. Since Harry was busy at his trial, and going to visit someone for Sirius shortly after the trial, it was up to Daphne to find out where they'd house the animals. Luckily Daphne's snake Mica, a death serpent, could sleep inside with her, sadly their Griffins, Phyre and Rosa, were too big to put into the house.

Daphne smiled, she couldn't wait until she could live here permanently. Since her wards and the improvements were currently the only thing keeping them from being found, she couldn't use them in a thesis for a mastery in warding, but she had completed a thesis for a mastery in enchanting. Harry had managed to complete one to dispute several magical creatures being considered a threat to wizardkind, and complete another on tokens. Out of the two of them he was pretty much assured a mastery, and he'd be submitting their three theses to the respective guilds for review after his Gringotts visit.

After six months they'd either have a mastery, or be rejected. Sadly since they'd be in school during those six months, and still considered minors, they couldn't reasonably go defend their theses. Even during Christmas, Daphne would still be a minor, and technically still on the run, and the ministry or Dumbledore would interfere with Harry if he tried to leave Hogwarts over break. They wouldn't be required to defend their theses but if they couldn't defend them there was a greater chance of rejection. Luckily both of their runic theses, Daphne's enchanting thesis and Harry's token thesis, probably wouldn't be rejected. Also considering how rare a Token Mastery is, chances are Harry would be accepted as long as his wasn't found to be fraud. Considering Harry had made a token and told her he was working on a second one, she was sure that he'd be accepted.

Daphne figured they'd try to house the Griffins in the cave and see how that worked out for them, for her remaining time alone she figured that she could fix up Harry's room.

**Z~Z**

Harry sat inside a secure room inside of Gringotts waiting for his meeting with Sirius' friend. His hand ghosted over a pendant he had under his clothes. He had created the token himself before he even understood what it really was. It was only after finding a very obscure branch of runic magic that he learned he created a token.

This particular one he created could divine auras. Most of the token's use came in allowing him to locate Daphne, though it also helped him ensure Sirius, Fleur and Gabrielle's identities. Currently all it was doing was ensuring that he was alone. Though some people were moving closer, hopefully they were the people Sirius wanted him to meet.

Sure enough, less then a minute later the stone door opened and three people and a goblin entered. One of the newcomers was a well built blue-eyed, blonde man, he had a strong square jaw, and was dark skinned. Something that stood out about the man was all his scars and burns; his arms were crisscrossed with scars, his face had its share of scars and the entire right half was scabbed from burns. A second newcomer was a boy, slightly older then Harry was, unlike his companion he had ghostly white, unmarred skin. His hair was snow white, and his eyes were a near white silver.

What stood out about the youngest member was his confidence. The two walked in next to each other, both as equals, the young boy just as respected as the obviously battle-scarred older man. The final person was an old man. The best way Harry could describe him was ancient, he leaned heavily on a cane, had an arched back, and was as wrinkled as a prune. The man was as ghostly white as the boy, with black hair and coal-black eyes. His aura on the other hand radiated death, even without his token Harry could feel the ambient magic from him. His body was worn and old, but the magic keeping him alive was even more vigorous than the other two.

The elderly man sat down as the goblin left the room, his two associates remaining standing, flanking him from behind. Harry tried to greet them, but almost instantly he was interrupted by the old man, "I'm sorry, boy, but even if our coven is allied with the family Black, we do not help others without gaining something in return." Harry once again tried to speak, and was cut off, "Furthermore, we do not wish to take a side in the conflict, and to protect you from a dark lord would set us firmly on your side, we have no need to quarrel with someone, when the magic we wield is considered dark by your ministry's standards." Three for three, Harry couldn't talk, "Finally we have never met you, to stage a meeting and demand assistance is considered the height of rudeness globally, rude clients are typically not dealt with."

Harry checked to see if he'd be interrupted, pretended to start to make sure he wouldn't be cut off again, and finally started, "Can you tell me what you mean? I just got out of a trial, and my godfather told me he setup a meeting with some friends to help me before I went to that trial. I didn't have time to ask him anything about this, or why he thinks I needed the help."

The elder once again spoke for the small group, "I am Lord Artimus Grimm, and these are two of my apprentices, Nathanial Greene," here he gestured to the young boy, "and Tobio Thatcher," this time to the scarred man, "a week ago your godfather Sirius Black, asked us to come to France to talk with you, he said you could use help. Yesterday, fairly late, he changed our meeting place to here with the message 'trouble, meeting now in Britain' you can understand our ire at the change."

Harry looked at him strangely, "I wonder why he did that, I'm sure you could give us guidance, but neither of us had trouble this summer, and our current location is fairly safe."

Harry was going to continue, but the old man once again interrupted, "Us? Young Sirius was quite clear, that it was to help you, he never mentioned another we were supposed to help."

"My girlfriend and I ran away shortly after last semester at school, we've been traveling together this summer, and setup a hidden safe house shortly before we traveled. Really I can't think of anything that we'd need. We plan to fix our wards, after a summer abroad we've learned several new ones we can add, and several ways to fix the old ones. We also have our pets, who would help defend us if there was a problem, most people consider them dangerous, but we love them and just couldn't let them go, even if each of them has a five star danger rating."

For the first time since the meeting started the two in the back showed life, Tobio jumped on the mention of a girlfriend, "Ah, chu gets a gal mah man. She gehts yeh properly whipped don'she? Alreahdy getchu too saye whee end us, soo eahrlee een teh relationsheep. Tis boyo heer needs a reight leesoon frum yuu." He grabbed his young associate and started shaking him as Harry starred in shock. The old master was sitting contemplating something, and the young boy was trying to get the much larger man off of him, and to shake off the teasing about landing his own girl.

Almost subconsciously Harry touched his pendant, almost instantly the old man's eyes snapped up and he examined Harry closely, "My boy, what was that you just touched?" Both the other two who had gotten to wrestling started trying to detangle themselves from each other, they were glancing between Harry and their master. Harry slowly brought out his stone pendant. The stone wasn't glowing or giving off magic anymore, but the way the old man gazed at it, was almost as if he could read the inscriptions that magically created the item. The other two stared at the item for a short time, but quickly returned their attention to their master. Harry continued to affectionately gaze at his creation, and was broken out of his reverie when the old man croaked, "A token."

Harry's eyes snapped up and stared surprised at the old man. Most people couldn't identify a token as a magical item, those that could automatically assumed the much more common and easier to create enchanted object. This man though, not only understood this object was magical, he understood this was a token, a magical object meant for the soul of a person. A token could essentially act like an enchanted object, but enchanted objects couldn't ever be used the same as tokens. Extremely shocked Harry managed to choke out, "Yes, I made it."

Almost reverently the old man asked, "Can I hold it, and would it be impolite to ask of its function?" His old wrinkled hand stretching out for the smooth stone.

Harry very carefully placed his token in the old man's hand, "It lets me feel auras, almost like having a sense specifically meant to regard auras." The old man inspected the item very carefully, continuously inspecting the item, reexamining the pendant, from the stone, to the leather he used to fasten it around his neck. The other two had confused looks on their faces throughout all of this, watching their master handle such an unimportant little item like it was pure gold.

The old man spoke, "You mentioned you have dangerous pets at home correct Mr. Potter? What kind are they? What of the dangerous creatures do you believe are not as dangerous as they appear?" His eyes remained glued to the small stone in his palm.

Harry looked at him confused, "We have two griffins, Phyre and Rosa, and a death serpent named Mica. While dangerous, they aren't much of a danger after you get to know them, sort of like a pet dog, they all can bite or scratch you, but if you live your life fearing what could happen, you miss out on what could potentially be a great thing."

The old man looked up from the token and smiled. "Mr. Potter, if you can part with this token, I'd be willing to ensure you get a mastery in the subject, much faster and with no chance of being rejected. Also if you're willing to accept a dangerous creature as a pet, I'd be willing to capture one that many on the planet would never consider tamable for you."

Both of his companions were shocked, Harry on the other hand was looking at him strangely. Seeing Harry's expression the old man ventured a guess as to why Harry was staring at him, "Tokens are extremely rare magic young one, to divine power based off one's soul is considered extremely dark in this day and age. Even more amazing is how you can connect it so young. Many masters in tokens are only masters of theory, to create a token is beyond them, more then half of the token masters of today have never once seen a token, let alone created their own tokens. You on the other hand created one, and astonishingly you didn't create this token with your own soul in mind, this is a diviner's token."

Noticing everyone staring at him the old man leaned back and sighed, "A normal token as you may know young man," here he gestured to Harry, "unlocks the magic within the item based on a soul, almost like an enchanted item with a lock, and the soul is the key." Harry nodded at the explanation, "A diviner's token on the other hand uses an… essence, would be the best word, to use the item, rather then be connected to just one soul, it is connected to one desire, or need, within the soul. Because of this difference though it can be used by more then one person, the token becomes its own entity."

Looking at the wide-eyed three faces around him the master continued his lecture, "In this pendant, I can feel the magic calling to me, the token feels my soul and desire to know the people around me better. That is the calling that this token uses, to know people better, and because of this I can protect my coven much better." Here the two disciples tried to argue but the master stalled them, "I can see far, and protect you well, but when I'm not in this realm I cannot react as quickly to all of you, this token though, it can transcend the call of death, and warn me even when I change realms."

A loud clunk signaled to the three that Harry was backing up and had pulled out his wand and another object that he held to like a lifeline. Vivid green eyes wide, and almost hyperventilating, it wasn't hard to guess that the insinuation of dark magic was what had him on edge. Before he could speak, the master was already offering calming gestures, "Yes, we are necromancers Mr. Potter, but dark magic does not mean an evil mage. I'm sure you can relate, since tokens are considered dark magic themselves. Whether you take this deal or not, we will remain allies, you just will not receive the help I offered without giving something in return. Please, you don't need to remain any more on guard then you were initially."

Calming down Harry took his seat again, "You mentioned a pet, care to tell me more about it?"

**Z~Z**

Artimus Grimm strolled up the lovely path on the tiny island. He chose to enter from the dock, although he had stopped to admire the wards. The boy had mentioned he would be helping his girlfriend improve their wards after their talk. Artimus smiled, just remembering how the boy had thought he wouldn't make it onto the island was humorous. To be fair the boy was one of currently two people who had contact with him and didn't know just how powerful he really was, his naïveté could be excused.

The wards on the island interested Artimus as much as the boy himself did. The pair used a central ward scheme, but they used outer node runes to empower the wards. Besides being a risky setup, node runes were a state secret, of an ancient civilization that collapsed centuries ago. Not only was the boy naturally able to use an art that was nearly extinct, him and his partner had stumbled upon a long dead art. Artimus only knew the most basic theory behind node runes, execution was beyond him. The single rune had to encompass the essence of the ward, or it wouldn't power the ward. These two children had not only discovered them, but learned to use them, truly amazing.

Their wards were stunning, both Tobio and Nathanial couldn't see the island nor feel the magic of the wards. To them, and most likely every other mage in Europe, this island was forever lost. Tobio could probably still enter the island, he'd just have to use his gift and get lucky. Nathanial on the other hand was still years away, although he had greater control over death then Tobio, experience still gave Tobio the edge over him.

At the edge of the yard Artimus was once again shocked, the wards defending the property outstripped the wards around the island! Running his hand across the invisible magic he watched and felt the grace of magic resisting the magic within. Unfortunately for the wards, his magic was ancient and unyielding, quite easily he slipped through the powerful wards. Stunningly he wondered how powerful the wards would be even after the nodes were broken. "Still above the norm for this age," he mumbled to himself.

The effect was instantaneous, the wards flared, and twin shrieks of anger sounded from somewhere behind the house. Obviously by talking to himself he was detected, quite ingenious, assuming they didn't stack detection wards on their defensive ones was a small mistake. Artimus wasn't afraid of whatever was charging at him, just disappointed he couldn't spend more time exploring. His short walk to the house left him marveling at the ingenious wards. The boy was proficient in tokens, and had mentioned being strong in warding, his partner on the other had he had claimed was amazing at enchanting, and strong in warding. Idly Artimus wondered if she had any enchanted objects that would interest him.

Suddenly two large, crimson griffins came into view, galloping around the house. The boy and his partner, a dark haired young girl, weren't far behind, with wands drawn. Harry, having met Artimus stopped and gaped, Daphne though was stuttering and paling after noticing someone had gotten past their wards. Harry quickly recovered and managed to stop the griffins from attempting to maul him. Harry also managed to stutter out, "How did you get past the wards?" while he was calming down the griffins.

Smiling Artimus chose to be vague, "When you've been around as long as I have, you learn tricks. I believe I told you I'd give you a pet, first I needed to see how suitable your home would be." Looking around he pondered, "I'm guessing there's someplace you shelter the griffins?"

"The griffins tend to prefer the forest, though we do have a cave that they ignore." The girl, Daphne, chose to join the conversation. She was standing behind Harry, but since Artimus wasn't very threatening, and Harry and Artimus knew each other, she was quickly gaining back her confidence.

"A cave," Artimus mused, again this couple just happened to have the perfect living conditions for his creature, they could handle it judging by how the girl had a death serpent around her shoulders, and Harry had calmed two griffins down despite a stranger being on their territory. "I'd like to see it, but a cave would be an exceptional place for the beast to live, obviously you have no problems with dangerous pets."

It happened instantly, and was short-lived, the snake hissed and an abyssal black scale on a slight silver chain glowed. It wasn't visible for people who couldn't see magic, an acquired gift picked up after spending ages immersed within magical realms. Her necklace was another token, the magic surrounding it was too intertwined with her own magic to be a simple enchanted object.

Two tokens, the boy had now created, one divine, one regular. Artimus could only recall three tokens created in the past century, and two of them were created by this young man.

Artimus inspected the island while chatting with the two children, the three spent the rest of the afternoon swapping stories. Once night started to settle, Artimus left promising to drop of the two children's theses to their respective guilds, he had promised to help Mr. Potter, and now Mrs. Greengrass interested him, and return within the week to drop off his pet.

After watching the old man fade away, rather then disappear with a crack, Harry turned towards Daphne. "There are anti apparition wards covering our island right?"

Intertwining their hands the couple started walking towards their house. "Of course they are. He's the necromancer you gave your token too right?" When Harry nodded she continued, "At least we know he's not going to tell anyone, do you have any idea what creature he'll bring us?"

"Not really, he is a necromancer though, so probably one related to death?"

"Thanks for that insight Harry I would've never guessed!" She playfully shoved him and ran the remaining distance to the house. Harry laughed and sprinted after her, already smelling the dinner that the elves had been keeping warm for them.

**Z~Z**

Quickly slipping through the insanely crowded street of Diagon Alley, Harry half worried about what this meeting would bring up. He was also worried about being recognized, he was shrouded in a cloak, and he had grown a little over the summer, but paranoia had set in. The last day he had to be hidden, just happened to be the day he scheduled the meeting.

At the beginning of the summer it seemed like a great idea to end the summer with this meeting, it would let him postpone thinking about it. Now though it felt like a needless risk.

Also a pointless thought was why did so many magical families put off shopping until the last day before the train left? It seemed like half of Hogwarts was here, hurrying to finish shopping. Daphne and Harry ignored shopping for school supplies in Britain, they restocked while on vacation, and would call the elves to bring any books they might need. Considering the core classes seemed to use more advanced versions of the same book, they had grabbed copies during their trip which remained packed.

Apparently none of the other wizarding children nor their families planned in advance. Harry had to squeeze past a couple of seventh years, talking about Dumbledore and the ministry's smear campaign.

He was surprised that his trial wasn't news, though he had heard that the goblins were effectively neutralizing the ministry's attempts at dragging his name through the dirt. He was beyond grateful that they were helping him so much.

In another store window there was a poster of Daphne. She was considered a runaway, with a five hundred galleon reward. It wasn't a surprise, her family was wealthy and she had run away. It was still shocking to him, they had heard of the manhunt for her, but weirdly nothing about the famous Boy-Who-Lived going missing appeared at all.

Neither of them was sure why Harry's disappearance was so minor, and why Daphne seemed to be extremely important. After the trial the answer was obvious, everyone thought Harry was with the Delacours, but even before then Harry wasn't a hot topic as a missing person.

Quickly stepping into the giant white building Harry stepped up to the nearest available teller. "I'm here for my appointment with Wraithorpe, he should be expecting me."

The goblin looked up and sighed. Placing the gem it was examining it motioned for Harry to follow and grumbled about rude humans while leading Harry to his office. Harry grimaced at the reminder. He should've remembered to wait for the goblin to finish its business before attending to his own. Goblins don't like being treated as inferior beings, and they had terrible complexes, especially after the way wizards treat them after they lost the last war.

Sighing Harry followed the irritable goblin, apologizing would do no good so he'd just have to remember the next time to be more respectful. Once again, Harry wondered how the goblins navigated the hallways and rooms in this labyrinth they called a bank. Much more quickly then he remembered last trip, the goblin stopped and gestured to a door. Without even waiting to confirm Harry understood the gesture, or speaking, the goblin left him in the hallway.

Sighing at upsetting the goblin Harry knocked on the door. "Enter Mr. Potter," sounded before he had even removed his knuckles from the door. Quickly entering the room, Harry noticed that this office had nothing in the way of furnishing, very bare and businesslike, unlike last time though the desk was nearly overflowing with paperwork. Even covered in papers Harry noticed that everything was meticulously organized. Quickly he sat down opposite Wraithorpe and waited for the goblin to come to a start.

"I suppose Mr. Potter I will begin with the bad news. Minister Fudge, Madam Umbridge and Mister Malfoy were all found to have attempted to wrest control of your account after your parents died. They were all fined for their troubles of course."

Sagging in on himself, the old goblin continued, "Now Dumbledore on the other hand was never found trying to take control of your accounts, but he was found to have taken nine thousand galleons from your trust vault over the years you were unaware of your place in our society. All the money, plus interest, has been recovered."

The goblin was shaking in barely contained rage as it spat, "Those responsible for this breach on Gringotts end have been dealt with. This has led to an investigation on our end. Before we thought this was a problem with wizards, but apparently goblins were being just as irresponsible with your account and to guarantee the integrity of our bank we must weed out those that might compromise it. Naturally for discovering this breach you received compensation."

"That ends our bad news about your accounts Mr. Potter, luckily through wise investing, and of course the fines and reimbursement we've made considerable profits for your account. You started with around sixty thousand galleons when you first visited. In just shy of three months your account now holds one hundred five thousand, two hundred and thirty three galleons sixteen sickles and two knuts. One thousand of those are in your trust vault and accessible to yourself."

The goblin pushed a small key over the desk towards Harry, "This time Mr. Potter do not give the key to anyone you don't wish to have access to your trust vault."

The goblin steepled its long fingers, "Looking into your status as an adult, we've found that in concerns to you no person has truthfully registered as a guardian. Now the ministry of magic would either mark you as their ward, or assign you a guardian. Gringotts has chosen a different path considering the problems you personally have faced recently."

The goblin pushed a blackened vile looking quill and some parchment over to Harry, "You have two choices Mr. Potter, you can either read the terms and sign these contracts to inherit the vaults fully, as far a Gringotts is concerned you have proven to make the correct decisions regarding your vaults. Another path is to choose who may control your vaults for another two years."

Harry didn't need to think twice, he quickly pulled over the contracts and read through them. Not finding anything he didn't expect he quickly began to sign the first paper when he gasped and quickly dropped the quill. "What was that!" he nearly screamed as he stared at the paper, with a glistening red H written where he was supposed to sign.

The goblin quickly glanced up from its own papers, looking between Harry and the quill he quickly commented, "Ah, I'm sorry Mr. Potter I forgot you've never heard of a blood quill have you? They are a class three restricted object, I believe they are only allowed to be used for old family magiks now, such as inheriting family vaults and signing magical contracts of joining families. I assure you, no lasting damage will happen as long as you don't use the quill excessively. It is necessary so Gringotts can confirm your blood matches your lineage."

Harry cautiously finished signing the papers and Wraithorpe snapped his fingers and they vanished. "Now Mr. Potter any other business for you today?"

Smiling Harry leaned in, "Actually I do, I have a mutually beneficial idea for us that I'd like handled while I'm finishing with school."

**Z~Z**

Daphne stood on the platform outside the scarlet eye-sore that was the Hogwarts Express. Quite a few people were disturbed by her appearance, the Slytherin Ice Queen, the coldest bitch in school, who never showed an emotion in all her life, smiling brightly looking around the platform.

Before he went to find a cabin for them Harry had called her crazy. He understood why she was excited, ever since they had received their new pet, Daphne had been dying to talk to Tracy. She would've been happy with Fleur, but there was something, better, about talking with her best friend, that Fleur just wasn't capable of.

She was finally free, the summer was over. Her parents wouldn't be able to do anything about her anymore. For ten months she'd be in school, and hopefully she'd leave as a member of a guild. Not like she was very worried, both Harry and herself managed to hide one summer, she could survive the month it would take to receive her O.W.L.'s to enter a guild through that method.

This was why she was so excited, what had her radiant and smiling. After two and a half months without speaking she would see her best friend, and she had ten months that her parents couldn't reach her. They could demand she return for Christmas, but she wouldn't go, and the staff couldn't make her!

Soon she'd spy the brown hair and freckles of her best friend, and then this year will officially start. A boyfriend, free of her family and soon to be reunited with her best friend, things were looking up.

**So, another chapter down. I'd say I'm sorry for the delay, but truthfully I'm not. I originally planned for the chapters to be released about one a month, and sometimes even longer in between. I know I've mentioned before I don't write a lot, and I'm not going to try and rush a chapter, I'd rather not stress over writing.**

**One thing pointed out was my whole Dumbledore mention. I'd like to point out Dumbledore IS manipulating Harry, but he is not going to be evil. Hopefully it came across through this chapter, but when he stole from Harry it was for the greater good of Britain. He stole the money to help supplement Magical Britain's economy while Harry wasn't using it. Not the most ethical way of gaining money, but it didn't support Dubledore's fondness for weird robes. (Not that the goblins would care either way). When Dumbledore mentions the Greater Good in this story he's talking about what he believes is good for Britain. He's just someone with a lot of influence in power.**

**Another mention is Harry/Harem or adding someone to the mix. Sorry in advance, but Daphne doesn't share. Gabrielle had her hero come visit, and she's still a young child. She's her daddy's little princess and Harry was her knight in shining armor. No romance there, just a little crush and a boy who's a bit too soft to make her cry.**

**-Mionefan Why! While I'm not going to make it Harr/Harem I did think he should branch out with more friends, and I was planning to introduce them on the train… like next chapter. Way to get into my head. I'm not sure how other couple parings will go, or what I'll do with Hermione. I have a rough plan for the year, but just for Harry/Daphne. Everyone else is pretty vague and I need to think on how they fit.**

**-PaC Both Daphne and Harry are prodigies. The reason Daphne is so good is because she has been working on runes since BEFORE Hogwarts. Just because Hogwarts offers the class third year, doesn't mean purebloods who are interested have to wait for then. I'm going with Daphne's interest in runes spawned as a child. Third year she overheard something that created an idea and she worked two years to make it come real. I'm sorry if you feel like I meant that she became interested and managed that in just two years. **

**Harry on the other hand just feels out how the magic flows. The whole creatures thing is sort of cannon, he seems to have no problems really dealing with dangerous creatures or magical creatures, so I've just expanded on it.**

**The last major thing that was commented on was the whole "trial". I hope from how little there really was on it, the trial was just a way for Fudge/Umbridge to try and smear Harry's reputation. The entire trial was on Madam Bones, the Wizengamot and all of that was to screw with Harry. Remember the goblins have been protecting Harry over the summer, the trial was a way to discredit Harry without any interference. Even without proof the paper could print theories, and even with retractions and if he got off it would put the image they wanted in the publics mind.**

**Sorry for any confusion with that, the trial was meant to be nothing, Harry just needed to be questioned since it occurred (as far as the ministry is concerned) at his home, and he was the only magical person with residence there. Fudge and Umbridge just used his questioning to make it seem like a trial so Harry would seem like a criminal.**

**Finally, thank everyone for support, even if it feels like I'm not listening to it, I am trying to use all advice that I've been receiving, if it isn't reflected in my writing, wait a few chapters. If after that it still isn't I probably need a reminder or a new example of what I'm doing wrong. I promise I've read every review, and I always plan to. Even the simple "I'm enjoying this story!" reviews, I'm very grateful for.**

**Also apologies for clichés, but they are there for a reason, I'm sure I'll have a few. But one more chapter before the fun at Hogwarts begins!**


End file.
